BIOGRAPHICAL and HISTORICAL 
SOUVENIR 



FOR THE COUNTIES OF 

Clark, Crawford, Harrison, 

Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, 

Scott and Washington. 

INDIANA. 



ILLUSTRATED . 



Compiled and Published by 



John 2>j£. G-iresihiaim: Sz Oc3^i=-^3sr-2", 



CHICAGO, 

Chicago Printing Company, 

1889. 



- 



PREFA CE. )K 

XTIL quite recently, but little attention has been given to the preservation of biography 
except in so far as it pertained to the preferred classes — persons who had been prom- 
i inent in governmental affairs, or distinguished in their profession or calling, or in some 

way made conspicuous before the public, requiring that more than usual should be known 
of the individual. Within the past decade, however, there has been a growing demand for the 
preservation of not only biography but for family genealogy, not altogether for its immediate 
worth, but for its future value and a laudable pride in its perpetuation for coming generations. 
The expediency of placing in book form biographical history and genealogy of the representative 
public is beyond question, and not many years shall have elapsed before the person who has not 
taken some steps to preserve his family record will be considered as not worth the effort. 

That the representative public are entitled to the privileges afforded by a work of this kind 
needs no assertion at our hands, for one of our greatest Americans has said that the history of 
any country resolves itself into the biographies of its stout, earnest, progressive and representa- 
tive citizens. This medium then serves more than a single purpose; while it preserves biography 
and family genealogy it records history that would not be preserved in any other way. This will. 
perhaps, be illustrated most strikingly by references in these sketches to the period of the war 
of the rebellion. 

Of the necessity of preserving family records in permanent form, one needs the experience 
of a collector of material for work of this character, for in a majority of cases nearly all trace of 
ancestry is lost back of the grandfather and grandmother — even in families where prominence 
and intelligence would seem to guarantee better things. 

In many other instances the material composing the sketches in this volume has been 
gathered from those immediately interested, and then submitted through the mails in type 
written form for correction and revision. 

The historical portion of the volume is all that was promised, and contains many of the 
most important events in the history of this, the earliest settled and most important section, 
in a historical sense, in the State. 

The mechanical part, of the book speaks for itself, the material and workmanship being all 
that was promised and of standard excellence. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



Index to Sketches. 



PZXRT I. 



JENNINGS COUNTY. 



New, J. D 

Conkiing, Piersou. 
Dixon, Lincoln. . . . 
Kidd, John D 



PAOE. 

. 227 
. 239 
. 229 
. 230 



PAKE. 

Overmyer, John 230 k" 

Schultheiss, James 231 

Smith, Green L 232 



8GOTT 

Everitt, Wm. B 238 

Everitt, ThomasH 239 

Gladden, B. K 239 

Green, Dr. W. E 240 

Harrod, C. B * 241 

Hazzard, H. S 241 

Jones, Levi R 242 

Manker, C. A 242 



GOUNTY. 

Mathes, Z. C 243 

Montgomery, R. W 244 

Munden, A. T 245 

Peeler, A. M 245 

Rice, Wm 246 

Warmuth, Dr. G. H 246 

Watson, Dr. J. M 247 



WASHINGTON GOUNTY. 



Washington County 251 

County Officers 259 

Elliott, Asa 269 

Lawler, John C 2G9 

Mcintosh, Andrew J 270 

Menaugh, Eli W 271 

Voyles, Samuel B 272 

Polloch, Henry 273 

Burges, John S 274 

Devore, Henry H 275 

Fetzer, Joseph 275 

Miller, James 276 

Alspaugh, David M 277 



Collins, John A. B 277 

Rudder, William 278 

Paynter, Dr. C. L 279 

Zaring, John A 279 

Douglass, Judge B. P 280 

Al vis, David 282 

Jennings, D. A 283 

Prow, F. L 284 

Read, John f 285 

Brown, Allen W 286 

Sparks, Gen. Levi 287 

May, Prof. James G 288 



PRRT II. 



GLARK 

Anderson, Chas. C 1 

Burke, James 2 

Burtt, Henry A 2 

Carr, Geo. W 5 

Cook, David S 6 

Coots, Edwin M 6 

Crim, Jesse ». 7 



GOUNTY. 

Dailey, Reuben 8 

Dougherty, Daniel 9 

Douglas, L. A 9 

Dow, H. D 10 

Ferguson, Judge Chas. P 11 

Fouts, Dr. W. D 12 

Fry,Jaco\>S , 13- 



INDEX. 



Gilbert, Dr. F. R. M 14 

Graham, John A 14 

Hawes, J.J 15 

Holzbog, George 15 

Howard, Jonas G 16 

Ingram, Col. John N 17 

Jacobs, Wm. S 18 

Jenkins, John A 20 

Lancaster, John N 20 

Lauder, Robt. B 21 

Lee, Wm 21 

Lugenbeel, Prof. W. E 24 

McCann, M. V 24 

McCampbell, James H 28 

Murphy, Dennis 30 

Oglesby, Samuel D 33 

Peaceley, Christopher 33 



pioa. 

Peyton, Dr. D. C 34 

Pfau, George 35 

Ruehl, Charles 36 

Ruddell, Dr. I. N 37 

Schuler, Alfred O 37 

Shelby, Wm. B 38 

Smitha, A. W 38 

Specht, Philip 39 

Stealey, Eugene V 39 

Swartz, Allen A 40 

Taggart, Dr. S. C 40 

Taggart, James E 42 

Timmonds, John W 42 

Watkins, Dr. E. M 43 

White, John Sr 43 

Zimmerman, Otto F 44 

Zulauf , Jno. C 45 



CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



Baylor, Dr. Geo. W 47 

Benz, John 47 

Bird, Dr. Wm. C 48 

Bobbett, James 48 

Bullington, Chas. A. A 49 

Cole, Dr. Wm. A 49 

Craig, Robt. M 50 

Crecilius, Clark H 50 

Dunn, Wm. R 51 

Everdon, William 51 

Funkhouser, Jacob 52 

Funkhouser, James L 52 

Funkhouser, Wm. H 52 

Funkhouser, Albert W 52 

Gibbs, Dr. John H 53 

Green, Henry C 53 

Hawn, Dr. E. R 54 

Holcroft, Capt. E. P. E 54 

Holland, Dr. Wm 55 



Jenkins, David 55 

Jenner, Wm. E 56 

Laswell, James U 56 

Lyon, Daniel 57 

Martin, Hamilton 57 

Ouerbacher, Peter M 58 

Patton, Stephen C 58 

Peckinpaugh, Maj. N. R 58 

Peckinpaugh, Jno. I ... 59 

Peckinpaugh, Abraham N 60 

Richardson, Elijah E 60 

Riddle, Col. Geo. W 61 

Robertson, George W 61 

Selser, Dr. Henry H 62 

Sloan, George W 62 

Stewart, Dr. Lewis B 63 

Stewart, Arthur E 63 

Temple, James L 64 

Weathers, John H 64 



FLOYD COUNTY. 



Ailer, Fred 65 

Alexander, Dr. A. J 65 

Anthony, Jacob 66 

Applegate, James P 66 

Atkins, Wm. R 66 

Baker, Isaac M 67 

Baker, Jno. F 67 

Becht, Valentine 68 

Belviy, Frank 68 

Blanchard, D. D 69 

Borden, Prof. W. W 69 

Bragdon, Capt. Joshua 71 

Brothers, James F 72 

Brown, James 72 

Brown, Prof. James 73 

Burney, Dr. W. A 73 



Clark, Maj. Thomas 74 

Cline, Benj. F 77 

Conner, Fred D 77 

Crumbo, Edward 78 

Curl, Peter N 78 

Danz, Charles A 79 

Davis, John Steele 79 

Day, John S 80 

Dinkle, John 81 

Duncan, Norton B 81 

Fisher, George W 82 

Fite, Capt. Andrew 82 

Frisbie, Sherman 83 

Fuller, Capt. R. F 83 

Gebhart, J. F . . . .' 84 

Godfrey, Geo. H 85 



INDEX. 



iii 



PAGE. 

Gwin, Josiah 86 

Gwin, James M 86 

Hammersmith, Louis 86 

Hunger, Elder Martin V 87 

Harrison, James G : 87 

Hedden, David 88 

Hegewald, Charles 89 

Heimberger, Christopher 89 

Helfrich, George, Sr 90 

Henry, Edward G 90 

Hessing, Jacob 91 

Howk, Judge Geo. V 91 

Hippie, Louis C 92 

Humphreys, Capt . Thomas 93 

Jenks, Reuben King 93 

Jewett, Charles L 94 

Johnson, Franklin C 94 

Kepley, Philip M 95 

Kistner, Fred C 96 

Kraft, Frank A 96 

Kraft, George 96 

Legg, Henry 96 

Lightner, Wni. G 97 

Loesch, Jacob 97 

Lyons, John J 98 

McDonald, Moms, Sr 98 

McKay, Wm. H 100 

McKenna, Charles 1U0 

McNeff, Samuel C 101 

Mathews, Capt. Chas. W 101 

Marsh, John S 101 

Morris, Robert W 102 

Murphy, William 102 



Newhouse, George A 103 

Newland, Dr. Elijah 104 

Norton, Francis 105 

Owens, Ollie 106 

Packard, Gen. Jasper 106 

Peake, James S 107 

Penn, George F 107 

Pierce, Levi L 108 

Peters, Capt. Jonathan 108 

Peters, Francis W 109 

Reising, Paul 109 

Richards, John J 109 

Russell, John 110 

Sackett, Charles no 

Schiudler, Charles W in 

Scott, Levi H ill 

Shields, Capt. James G 112 

Stalcup, S. S 112 

Starr, Jacob B H3 

Stoy, Peter R U3 

Strobel, George J 114 

Summers, Shelby H4- 

Thomas, John H 115 

Vernia, Louis 115 

Walker, Ferd G 116 

Watkeys, Henry 116 

Weathers, John R 117 

Weir, Merrill A 117 

Weir, Samuel M 118 

Wilson, James E 119 

Wolf, George W 119 

Wolf, Charles 120 

Wunderlich, Frederick 121 



HARRISON COUNTY. 



Allison, Allen 123 

Anshutz, John 123 

Arnold, John 123 

Baelz, John M 1 124 

Barger, John E 124 

Bartley, Capt. Reuben 125 

Bence, Socrates J 126 

Bennett, Dr. Jas. H 127 

Benson, Wm. M 127 

Blunk, Levi 128 

Boone, George 128 

Boone, Capt. N. B 129 

Borden, Philip •. 129 

Brandenburg, Amos 130 

Brandenburg, Joseph 130 

Brinley, Geo. W 131 

Clarke, Dr. J. C 132 

Col viu, Luke H 132 

Combs, Thos. W 133 

Cooper, John N 133 

Critchlow, J. E 134 



Cromwell, J. F 134 

Cromwell, Oliver 135 

Crosier, Robert 135 

Current, James 136 

Curts, Jacob A 136 

Daniel, Dr. Wm 137 

Davis, R. F. Jr 137 

Davis, S. B 138 

Dobbins, Thad 138 

Doll, Jacob 139 

Douglas, E. B 139 

Dyer, Wm 140 

Elbert, Noah 140 

Ellis, W. J 141 

Farnsley , Capt. J. P 142 

Ferree, Isaac 145 

Fife, Andrew 146 

Fleshman, A 146 

Fouts, Dr. H. C 147 

Frakes, Harvey 147 

Fravel, J. A 147 



iv 



INDEX. 



Frank, J. L : 148 

Friedley, Col. G. W 148 

Funk, M. W 150 

Funk, Dr. Z. T 153 

Funk, J. R 153 

Funkhouser, W. E 154 

Grable, E. A 15-1 

Gresharu, Col. B. Q. A 154 

Gwartney, Geo. K 155 

Hays, Henry 156 

Hickman, Dennis 156 

Hickman, Philip 157 

Hickman, Warlord 157 

Hickman, Levi 157 

Hildebrand, C. L 158 

Hisey, Waldo 158 

Homer, Dr. J. S „' 158 

Jenkins, James 159 

Kelley, Geo. R 16(1 

Kerns, C. C. H , 1(50 

Kerker, Barnett 161 

Rron, J. M 161 

Lang, James 162 

LaRue, Ganes 162 

Lawson, Samuel 163 

Leffler, Isaac E 163 

Lemay, J. D 163 

Lemmel, D. F 164 

Lemmon, D. F 164 

Littell, Capt. J. W. H 165' 

Lowe, J.J 166 

Long, James 166 

Loweth, John 167 

McRae, Capt. John 168 

McRae, Samuel 171 

McRae, J. A 172 

McDaniel, Robt 172 

Marshall, Capt. J. W 173 

Mason, W. G 174 

Martin, Sanf ord 174 

Mauck, John J 175 

Melton, Rev. John 175 

Miles, Wm. J. Jr 176 

Morgan, John W. 176 



Noble, Gov. James 177 

Patterson, Hugh A 177 

Poor, Washington 178 

Posey, Gov. Th 178 

Reeder, Dr. Wm. H 17'J 

Reader, Dr. Wm 179 

Redick, John 180 

Robinson, George W 1 no 

Rogers, Wm. S 181 

Sample, John 181 

Sands, Isaac 182 

Shaffer, David 183 

Sherman, George K 183 

SUigley, James W 184 

Sibert, James I 184 

Simler, John in. r > 

Simler, James S 185 

Smith, Dr. Alvin E 186 

Smith, Charles W 186 

Sonner Capt. Wm l.si; 

Sonner, John P 187 

Stallings, James W 187 

Stephens, Wilford 168 

Stepp, William H. 188 

Stockslager, S. M 189 

Tabler, James R 190 

Thomas, Charles W 190 

Thompson, George W 191 

Tracewell, Wm. Neal 191 

Trotter, James 192 

Viers, John W 192 

Walters, John Sr 192 

Watkius, Wilford N 193 

Williar, Charles H 193 

Wolford, John L 194 

Woodward, James . , 194 

Wright, George R 195 

Wright, Alonzo 195 

Wright, Mrs. Rosanah H 196 

Wright, Samuel J 196 

Youtster, David W 196 

Zenor, Hon. William T 197 

Zenor, Hon. Peter M 2i>l 

Zimmerman, Elhanan W 202 



JEFFRRSON COUNTY. 



Abbott, Capt. Jos. C 203 

Allfrey, Charles W 203 

Amsden, William M 204 

Armstrong, Capt. John 205 

Austin, Holly 206 

Bader, Matthias 207 

Baker, Samuel 207 

Barber, George 208 

Baxter, William 208 

Bayless, James W 209 



Bear, Perry E 210 

Beueflel, Wm. II. H 210 

Bolen, George R 211 

Brashear, Joseph T 212 

Brown, William P 212 

Buchanan, E 213 

Chambers, Ira 214 

Chambers, James 214 

Chapman, Richard 215 

Cochran, James A 216 



INDEX. 



Cochran, William 216 



Comtoisky, Cyras 



216 

Conway, J. Randolph 217 

Cordrey, William 218 

Conway, J. Eodolphus 218 

Coyle.E. S 219 

090 * 

Craig, James oaj 

Crawford, John 22 ° 

Demaree, Wm. W 221 

Dow, Thomas 221 

Earhart, Isaac C 222 

Gordon, John W 223 

Francisco, Hiram Sr 223 

Francisco, Hiram Jr ■ •■ 224 

Francisco, Thomas J 224 

Gale, Capt. Rufus 225 

Gasaway, Nicholas 226 

Gavitt, Marcus A 227 

George, Charles H 227 

Gillespie, Bruce 228 

Giltner, Green B 229 

Gorgas, Joseph R 229 

Graston, George W i 230 

Guergen, Rev. Louis 231 

Hall, Alonzo J 231 

Hammell, John F 232 

Hinds, Wm. W 232 

Jackson, Henry 234 

Jines, Henry 234 

Jones, Henry Clay 23,r > 

Johnson, William 836 

Kampe, Edward 237 

Landon, Francis M 237 

Linck, John W 238 

Lloyd, Zephaniah 240 

Lochard, Joseph H 241 

Loring, Charles V 242 

Mathis, John 243 

Mathews, Robert 244 

Matthews, William 244 

Matthews, William H 244 

Mayfleld, Francis F 245 

Mayfield, George T 245 

Mayfleld, Burditt 246 

McGee, James A 246 

McGee, James 246 

McKay, John F 247 

McLeland, William E 24H 

Miles, Mrs. Martha 250 

Moore, John G 250 

Morton, Robert 251 

Morton, John W 251 

Muth, Louis 251 



PAGE. 

Patton, Col. Jno. N 251 

Penn, Dr. Benj. A 253 

Phillips, Squire 254 

Piles, John J 255 

Pommerehn, John F 255 

Rawlings, James V 256 

Rector, Earl T 25G 

Reynolds, Dr. John H 257 

Reynolds, Joseph T 257 

Richert, John 258 

Ritchie, John R 259 

Roboins, Hiram F 2G0 

Robbins, William 249 

Roberts, Edward 261 

Roberts, Dan. A 261 

Robinson, Leander M 262 

Robinson, James 262 

Royce, John T 263 

Ryker, JaredD 264 

S&Usbury. John G, 269 

Sappington, Otis B 269 - 

Scott, John W.. 270 

Schoolcraft, F. M . tl\ 

Schwartz, George 272 

Seepe, Rev. J. B. H 272 

Sheets, Michael 273 

Smith, James H 274 

Smitha, Granville T 274 

Smart, Christopher 275 

Spann, Leonard D 276 

Stevenson, Eld. Robt 277 

Stevenson, Robert Jr 278 

Sulzer, Marcus B 278 

Swan, Robert H 279 

Thomas, Jesse B 280 

Tilton, Mark 280 

Turner, Rev. James W 282 

Wade, Patrick 282 

Walch, William 284 

Watlington, William 284 

Whitham, Dillard C 285 

VVhitham, George 286 

Widerin, Rev. G. L. T 286 

Williams, Benj. B 287 

Williams, Remembrance J 288 

Willoughby, Mrs. Matilda 289 

Woods, James C 289 

Wood, Robert H 290 

Wright, Dr. C. H 292 

Vawter, Milton S 297 

Vanosdol, Capt. Argus D ' 298 

Zuck, John A 299 



Index to Illustrations. 



PAI1E. 

De Pauw, Wash. C parti. 84 

The Corydon State Capitol " 128 

Gresbam, Hon. Walter Q. " 143 

Burtt, Henry A part n. 3 

McCann, Michael V " 25 

Murphy, Dennis " 31 

Clark, Maj Tliomas " 75 



FADE 

Farnsley , Capt . Joshua P part 11 . 143 

Funk, Major Wetherford " 151 

McRae, John " 169 

Zenor, Hon . William T " 199 

Ryker, Jared D " 265 

Wright, Dr. C . H " 293 




VI 



Clark County. 



( By William Lee, Esq. ) 



TIIK bistoiy of Clark count} covers, 
to a large extent, the history of 
the early settlement of the southeast- 
ern part of the present State of Indiana. 
Clark couutj can claim the proud em- 
inence of occupying the second gene- 
ration of Indiana counties. Knox 
county, created by gubernatorial proc- 
lamation, before even Indiana terri- 
tory had l>een carved out of the great 
North West Territory, covered uearlj 
the whole of what now constitutes the 
States of Indiana and Illinois. 

(Mark county was the first to be cre- 
ated out of the territory included 
within the original boundaries of Knox, 
so that, at the time of its formation 
no county intervened between the 
original ('lark and Knox counties. 
Knox county wa> organized June 2,0, 
1790 and was made to include all of 
the countrj between Hamilton and St. 
Clair counties from the Ohio river to 
the Lake-. 

Emigrants from some of the south- 
ern States had begun to settle along 
the Ohio river, and it was found nec- 
essary to form other divisions for the 
convenience of the people, and so on 
the 3rd day of Febniary, 1801 a new- 



county was formed, like that of its 
predecessor by gubernatorial proclam- 
ation, including within its boundaries 
as follows: Beginning on the Ohio at 
the mouth of Blue river, now the bound- 
ary line between Harrison and Craw- 
ford counties, up the said river to 
where the trail leadingfrom Vincennes 
to the Ohio Falls crosses said river; 
thence by a direct line to the nearest 
point on White river; thence up said 
river to the branch thereof which runs 
towards Fort Recovery, and from the 
head springs of said branch to Fort 
Recovery; thence along the boundary 
line between Indiana Territory and 
the North West Territory, south to 
the Ohio river; thence down said 
river to the place of beginning. 

It may be a little difficult at this 
day to trace the boundary lines as then 
given, but it can Ke.with tolerable ac- 
curacy, with a map of the State before 
one, traced and its lines approximately 
determined. 

The exaci place where the road 
leading from Vincennes to Clarksville, 
crossed Blue river, may not lie now 
known, but it was not far from the 
point where the New Albany & Vin- 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



mines Turnpike road now crosses it at 
or near the old town of Fredericks- 
burg in Washington county. This 
grand scope of territory, containing 
near one-fifth of the present State of 
Indiana, the whole of the southeast- 
ern portion of it, was named after that 
grand and hei'oic man, Gen. George 
Rogers Clark, to whom this country is 
mainly indebted for the possession of 
the great Northwest Territory. 

No other name could have been so 
fitly applied as that of Clark to a 
county which included, not only the 
town of Clarksville, the then home of 
General Clark, but included the grant 
of land made to Ins soldiers by the 
State of Virginia by act of January 
•2nd, 1781. . 

This grant of land, not to exceed 
one hundred and forty-nine thousand 
acres, to be apportioned to General 
George Rogers Clark and the officers 
and soldiers of his regiment who were 
at the reduction of the "Kaskaskias 
and St. Vincent," ( Kaskaskia and Vin- 
cennes) in 1 77s. The grant was to 
be located on the northwest side of 
the Ohio River at such place as a ma- 
jority of the officers entitled to the 
land bounty should choose. 

They selected their lands adjacent 
to the Ohio Falls, upon which almost 
the whole of Clark county within its 
present boundary is now situated. A 
small portion of this grant lies in the ad- 
joining counties of Floyd and Scott. 

It is difficult to trace the history of 
the early settlement in detail of Clark 
county. Apart from its military oc- 



cupancy very little settlement was 
made prior to the year LSOO, when the 
Indiana Territory was converted into a 
separate organization from that of the 
Northwest Territory and given a ter- 
ritorial government with Gen. W, II. 
Harrison its Governor. Reference 
lias already been made to the fact that 
the Legislature of the State of Vir- 
ginia, in consideration of the impor- 
tant military services which Gen. 
George Rogers ('lark had rendered 
that State, had donated to him and 
his brave soldiers a tract of land which 
was located on the northwest bank of 
the ( )hio river. 

In addition to the land bounty 
granted to Clark and his soldiers a 
thousand acres, lying along the Ohio 
Falls nearly opposite Louisville, was 
granted for the location of a town to 
be called Clarksville. The exact time 
of the settlement of Clarksville is a 
little uncertain, but from the best data 
that can be had it must have been 
about the year 1 7S'>. Notwithstand- 
ing General Clark made it his home, 
and Fort Clark was located here, 
around which man) a sensational scene 
was enacted, its growth was but slow, 
for it is alluded to in 1797 as a strag- 
gling village of only some twenty 
houses. 

The settlement of Clarksville ex- 
tended up the river to the head of the 
Falls, where the city of Jeffersonville 
now stands, where Fort Finney was 
built which was afterwards known as 
Fort Steuben. It was located on 
Lower Front street at the intersection 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



of Fort street, as designated on the 
map of the city of Jeffersonvdle, <>n 

tlie site where stood the "governor's 
house," many years after, within the 
recollection of our older citizens of the 
present generation. 

In those days emigration followed 
and hovered around the forts for mil- 
itary protection. 

Col. John Armstrong, 17!>7, while 
commandant at Fort Finney, in order 
to more effectually protect the settle- 
ments in Kentucky, 1>\ preventing the 
Indians from crossing the Ohio river 
at Grassy Flats and Twenty-One Mile 
Island bar, where, at low stages of the 
water, the river can lie forded, built a 
Mock house at the nioiith of Bull 
Creek, now in Owen Township, in 
Clark county, which in honor of its 
founder was named "Armstrong's Sta- 
tion." 

Around it a small settlement of em- 
igrants was located. But when the 
station was abandoned, which it was 
in ashort time, the settlement was also 
abandoned for the time. Col. Ann- 
strong returned to his old location in 
1.81 1 at tlie station and continued to 
reside there until he died in L816. In 
1800, at the time the new government 
of the Indiana Territory went into 
effect, its entire civilized population 
was .">,<U1 ; of this population, 929 
resided around the Ohio Falls, upon 
Clark's grant, but perhaps the larger 
portion in and around the old town of 
Clarksville. 

While much of the population of 
the territory was composed of French 



emigrants and their descendants, the 
only settlements made by pure Amer- 
icans, were those made upon Clark's 
grant around and adjacent to the Ohio 
Falls, now included in Clark county. 

It lias already been stated that the 
location of the one hundred and forty- 
nine thousand acres of land granted 
to Gen. George Rogers Clark and his 
men covers a large portion of what 
now constitutes Clark county. 

As the location and settlement of 
this grant of land have much to do 
with the early settlement of the coun- 
ty, the manner of its location and set- 
tlement may not lie uninteresting to 
the reader. 

These one hundred and forty-nine 
thousand acres of land were laid off in 
five hundred acre tracts, and appor- 
tioned to the officers and soldiers 
according to the terms of the grant, 
which were to be in this manner: to 
the Major General, 15,000 acres; to 
Brigadier Generals, 10,000 acres; to 
Colonels, 6,666^ acres; to Lieut. Cols., 
6,000 acres; Majors, 5,666f acres; to 
Captains, j-,000 ; to Lieutenants, 2,666f 
acres : to non-commissioned officers, 4oo 
acres: and to privates, 2,00^; and 
were assigned to the officers and men 
b\ lottery. 

It is a curious fact, or at least it 
seems so at the present time, that those 
whose lot fell them in the rich bottom 
lands in Utica township quite envied 
those by good fortune as they then 
considered it, fell in the knobs of 
TV 1 and Monroe townships. 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



Now these lands in Utica township 
are worth over $100 per acre and those 
Lvins among the Knobs of \Y<><><1 and 
Monroe township are rating at hut 
$3.00 or $4:00 per acre. But a new 
industry is springing up to which 
these lands on the Knobs are peculiarly 
adapted; that of the peach culture 
which is in a tew years destined to 
work a revolution in the comparative 
value of these bottom and uphilly 
lands. 

It was intended that this grant should 
he surveyed and laid off in the hun- 
dred acre tracts, hut such, from some 
cause, perhaps the greatest one of the 
causes, was the ignorance and ineffi- 
ciency of the surveyors selected to 
make the survey and plat the ground. 
But whatever the cause, quite a dif- 
ference in the number of acres was 
found in the different numbers of the 
survey. They were found to van 
from three hundred and seventy to 
seven hundred acres. 

This made it necessary, in making 
the original deeds to the grantees to 
make them for five hundred acres, 
more or less. • 

It will he seen by reference to a map 
of Clark county that, unlike the regu- 
lar United States survey of the public 
lands, the divisions are based upon 
lines running at right angles to the 
cardinal points of the compass, but the 
lines of the grant run northwest and 
southeast, and these lines are cut at 
right angles. Why these square five 
' hundred acre tracts were made in this 
position is impossible to tell at tins 



time, unless it resulted from the fact 
that they aimed to make them in 
squares running perpendicular to the 
line of the ( >hio river where the survey 
commenc.ed. 

How many of these old soldier 
grantees settled upon their lands and 
converted the wild wilderness into 
cultivated homes it is impossible now 
to tell, as the original settlers upon 
these lands have long since passed 
away, leaving behind them nothing by 
which to know their names. The 
probability is, however, as these old 
Indian fighters under Gen. ("lark were 
men in middle life in 1777-8, that but 
few of them had held on to their land 
until Clark county was open for settle- 
ment and availed themselves <>f the 
opportunity, but had sold their lands 
long before that time. 

After the allotment of these lands, 
Louisville was the scat of justice and 
the records of the sale and transfer of 
these lands was kept there. 

Afterward, by an act of the Legisla- 
ture of the State of Virginia the 
records were transferred to old Clarks- 
ville, and continued there until Clark 
county was organized, when these 
records were transferred to its eountj 
seat. These old records and the trans- 
fers made in the way of inheritance 
and sale were badly kept and much 
trouble and litigation grew out of that 
fact. 

The Hrst important question t<i be 
determined after the construction of 
the new county was the location of its 
count v seat. 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



It is impossible al this Late date t<> 
understand and appreciate all the mo- 
tives and influences that operated, at 
that day, in the determination of this 
important question. 

It would seem natural to us that, in 
consideration of the fact that Claries- 
ville was the home of the conqueror of 
the Northwest, General George Rogers 
Clark, and at that time the largest and 
must important town in the county, 
that the county seat would have been 
located there. 

But such was not the fact. From 
some cause, geographical considera- 
tions perhaps, convenience of access 
l>v a majority of its straggliug popula- 
tion mostly on or near the Ohio river, 
determined the site of local govern- 
ment for the new county. 

At any rate it was located at a small 
village, but then supposed to lie a ris- 
ing and prosperous place called Spring- 
ville, situated about four miles back 
from the Ohio river and some mile 
and a half south-west of Charlestown, 
w hich subsequently became the county 
seal where it remained for over a half 
century. 

This first county seat of Clark coun- 
ty has w holly disappeared. 

Not a vestige of it remains to tell 
the curious where it once stood. 

The site where it stood is now sim- 
ply an open country. Charlestown. 
with its vigorous and robust growth 
absorbed it and it soon passed away. 

But few of the present inhabitants 
of Clark know that any such town 
"ever existed. 



The history of this first county seat 
is brief. 

Early in L800 a settlement was 
made upon grant No. 115 and from 
some cause a town sprang up as the 
township began to lie settled. 

Near this village was a spring 



which furnish 



('( I "'Ol 



id w ater for 



mestic purposes, and it is probable 
from this fact the village took the 
name of Springville. 

The place grew to souk- size, per- 
haps numbering in its most prosper- 
ous days one hundred inhabitants. 

Close by a still house was in active 
operation, several stores or trading 
post:-, came into existence which neces- 
sarily made it a great rendezvous for 
Indians. 

A short distance wesl of Springville 
lived Jonathan Jeunings, t he first Gov- 
ernor of the State of Indiana, who 
was also engaged in manufacturing 
whiskey. 

He also had a mill which he op- 
erated in connection with his distil- 
lery and for the neighborhood accom- 
modation. 

But all this prosperity was soon 
blighted. 

The title to the lands became in- 
volved in dispute. 

Law suits sprung up, trials were 
had, enemies were made which ended 
only in the ruin and abandonment of 
the town. 

All these transactions took place 
within eighl years. This settlement 
had been Pounded, had grown to lie 
the most important place in the ecu 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



tral part of the county, had been Pos- 
tered by being made the seat of gov- 
ernment for tlie comity and died a nat- 
ural death, all within eight years. 

There was no public court house at 
this time, nor was there any ever built 
at this place as far as can be discov- 
ered. The only court house at this time 
was simply a large room in one of the 
business buildings of the place, and was 
eminently lacking in the elegance of 
our modem temples of justice. But 
as short-lived as it was, the county 
seat was removed from it some years 
before it finally expired, and wastaken 
to the town of Jeffersonville. 

But here on this site where no hab- 
itation now stands, then the designated 
capital of the new county of Clark, 
assembled in solemn conclave on the 
7th day of April, 1801, the first court 
of justice ever held in southern Indi- 
ana, east of Blue river, in and for the 
body of ('lark county in the Territory 
of Indiana. 

It was named the Court of General 
Quarter Sessions of the Peace. It was 
composed, under the commission of 
Governor William Henry Harrison 
and the seal of Indiana Territory, of 
Justices Marston Green Clark, Abra- 
ham Huff, James Noble Wood, Thomas 
Downs, William Goodwin, John Gib- 
son, Charles Tuley and William Har- 
wood. These were all good and sub- 
stantial men and stood prominent in 
the early history of the county. 

It would afford an interesting chap- 
ter in the history of the pioneer 
.settlements of southern Indiana, to 



trace the subsequent life of sonic of 
these men. 

Samuel Gwathney, who had been 
appointed and commissioned the first 
clerk of the county, took his seat as 
clerk of this court. 

He was also appointed clerk of the 
Court of Common Pleas and the clerk 
of the Orphans <<r Probate Court of 
the county. 

Samuel Hay, the ancestor of the 
present sheriff of the county, Charles 
S. Hay, was appointed the first sheriff 
of the county. 

The first and most important dnty of 
this first session of the Court of Cener-* 
era! Quarter Sessions of the Peace was 

to divide the county into civil town- 
ships and put the county adniinistra 
tion of government into active and 
effective operation. 

Its first act was to divide the county 
into three civil townships, and to ap- 
point peace officers, supervisors of 
mads, levy commissioners, overseers 
of the poo]', etc. They divided the 
county into three townships which 
they designated as Clarksville, Spring- 
ville and Springhill. 

The first named township covered 
the territory now included in Floyd 
and Harrison counties; the second, 
that of Springville, included within its 
boundaries aE of whatnow constitutes 
Clark county between Silver ('reckon 
the west to Fourteen Mile creek on 
the east and to its northern limits, 
and Springhill all east of that. 

In the development and growth of 
the county in wealth and population, 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY 



the necessity for frequent changes of 
the civil divisions of the county, from 
rime to time for administrative pur- 
poses, have gone on until, at this 
time, not a single one of the names of 
these three, original townships remains 
in the county. 

Many ami important changes in the 
divisions of the county into civil 
townships, to accommodate the people 
of the county in the management of 
their local interests, have been made 
since its original organization. 

The county is now divided into 
twelve civil townships with which 

the people ale satisfied. 

Five of them, to-wit : Jeffersonville, 
LTtica, Charlestown, Owen anil Beth- 
lehem townships, border upon the 
( )hi<> river. 

Washington and Oregon are in the 
northeast, Monroe ami Wood on the 
north and northwest; Carr and Silver 
Creek on the west, and Union in the 
center of the county. Jeffersonville 
township, including the city of Jef- 
fersonville and its suburban towns, 
contain- near one-half of all the popu- 
lation ami wealth of the county. 

The immediate surrounding coun- 
ties have all been formed out of the 
original territory included in Clark 
county at the time of its formation. 
Floyd was organized in L819, Wash- 
ington in 1814, Scott in L820 and 
Jefferson in L810. 

In the organization of Scott countj 
in L820, part of its territory was 
taken from Clark county, and this was 
the last act reducing it. 



Nor is it probable that it will ever 
again be further reduced. 

It now has an area of 367 square 
miles, somewhat below the number of 
square mile's, that of four hundred, 
which the constitution of the State 
prohibits a county to lie reduced. 

It is not likely that an amendment 
of the fundamental law of the State 
will be made for that purpose, or that 
a majority of the citizen- of the 
county, would, under any circum- 
stances ever consent to it. The peo- 
ple of Clark county are proud of it 
as it stands and will hold it with an 
iron grasp complete in all its present 
proportion-. 

As before -tated the county is now 
divided into twelve civil townships in 
such manner as supposed to be best 
adapted to the public convenience in 
voting at the annual elections, and the 
transaction of local township business 
and the maintenance of their public 
schools. 

It must not be inferred that these 
local sub-divisions of the county have 
always existed as they are now found. 

Mam changes and reconstructions 
have been made in these divisions since 
the organization of the county. 

As the population of the county in- 
creased, changes for their better accom- 
modation. in the transactions of their 
township business became necessary, 
and the old boundary line- were altered 
and sometimes new township- were 

created. 

It is Hot 1 llOUghl to be of -ullii'icllt 

importance to the general reader to 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



enter into an elaborate and detailed 
history of these changes until the 
present time. 

Some of the older townships have 
undergone many changes* since they 
were originally constructed, and new 
townships carved out of them. 

To give the history of all these 
changes would require considerable 
space, too much in a short sketch like 
this. 

Hut a brief reference to the organ- 
ization of the twelve townships 
into which the county now stands di- 
vided, is deemed necessary to complete 
the history of the county. 

Jefpeksonville Township. 

This is now, in mam respects, the 
most important township in the 
county. 

It includes within its limits the city 
of Jeffersonville, the old town of 
Clarksville, the town of Fort Fulton 
and that of Claysburg. 

Its wealth, as shown by the hooks 
in the county auditor's office and its 
population as shown by the census of 
1880, make it nearly equal to that of 
all the remainder of the county. As 
now known, it was organized on the 
10th February, is] 7. 

As then established, it included a 
much larger area of territory than 
now. Later in the same year, May 
12th, however, the western boundaries 
of the township were changed by the 
formation of a new township west of 
Silver Creek which later on was made 
part of the new county of Floyd. 



And two years still later, on the 12th 
of May, 1819, the boundary line be- 
tween Jeffersonville and Charlestown 
townships was changed, making it 
begin at the mouth of Pleasant Run, 
then in a direct line to the upper cor- 
nel- of lot seventeen on the Ohio 
river, opposite the lower end of Dia- 
mond Island. 

In 1831 when I'tica township was 
established, the boundary line between 
the two became the permanent line 
between the two and remains so to 
tins time. 

Utica Township. 

This township, which lies joining to 
Jeffersonville township on its north- 
eastern boundary, was organized in 
1831, and was taken principally from 
the territory of that and of Charles- 
town townships. 

It took its name from the village of 
the same name, located on the banks 
of the Ohio river, about eight miles 
north of the city of Jeffersonville. 

The township is bounded on the 
north by Charlestown township, mi the 
east by the Ohio river, which washes 
from eight to ten miles of its territory, 
on the south and southwest by Jeffer- 
sonville township, and on the west by 
Jeffersonville and Silver Creek town- 
ships. 

Upon an average it has the richest 
soil and is best adapted to agricultural 
pursuits of any township in the 
county. 

During the early settlement of the 
county, on account of the lowlands 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY 



alongthe river, there was a good deal 
of sickness, and especially ague and 
fever. 

But since the high state of cultiva- 
tion to which these bottom lands have 
been subjected, that lias all disap- 
peared and Utica is as healthy as any 
township in the county. 

From the fact of its rich soil it has 
become noted as a market garden locali- 
ty, supplying Louisville and the cities 
around the Falls with a large quantity 
of garden products. 

Indeed, agriculture, in all its varied 
departments, prospers in this rich 
township. 

Chakxesti ) WN Tow XS 1 1 1 1'. 

The next township up the river ad- 
joining Utica is that of Charlestown. 

It was organized in 1817, hut has 
undergone many changes in its boun- 
daries since then. 

Other townships were created 
around it as the convenience of the 
people required and it was made to 
contribute of its territory for that 
purpose until it was cut down to its 
present boundary. 

From the time (dark county was 
organized until IN 17, Charlestown, or 
the territory out of which Charles- 
town was formed, included the cen- 
tral and most promising portion of 
the grant. It was centrally located 
and afforded about equal facilities to 
the people of adjoining townships, in 
the transaction of their official busi- 
ness. 

But as time increased the popula- 



tion in other portions of the county, 
and distance was something of an item 
when it came to traveling some ten, 
twelve or fifteen miles to vote, changes 
were made to accommodate the pub- 
lic, in the organization of new town- 
ships out of the territory of the old 
ones. 

In this way, Charlestown township 
was reduced in size by the organiza- 
tion of Owen on the north in 1830, 
that of Utica on the south in 1831, 
that of Oregon on the northeast in 
1852, and Union in 1858, which was 
the last reduction made. 

It is still a large and wealthy town- 
ship, being second only in wealth and 
population to that of Jeffersonville 
township. 

The general surface of the township 
is undulating. The soil is a limestone 
loam, mixed with sand and is gener- 
ally productive. 

While this is true in a general way, 
there is a good deal of thin land and 
it requires careful and intelligent 
management on the part of its own- 
ers to make it pay for the labor be- 
stowed upon it. The farms are gen- 
erally large and have the appearance 
of being the homes of thrift and cul- 
ture. 

The only town of any importance 
in the township is that of Charlestown. 

In connection with the county seat 
controversies during the history of 
the county, Charlestown has already 
been brought into prominence. 

As a town, historical reminiscences 
of pleasing interests cling aio.md it, 



10 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



and at times played a highly impor- 
tant part in the history of Clark 
county. 

About the time of the death of 
the town of Springville, which had 
been boosted into undue importance 
by being made the first county seat 
of the new county, and died as sud- 
denly by its removal a year afterward, 
a new town was laid off a few miles 
from where its predecessor had lived 
and died. 

in 1808, the town of Charlestowil 
was laid off in the woods. 

Its god-fathers were Barzella Baker 
and a Mr. McCampbell, the father of 
Mr. Samuel McCampbell, the tan- 
ner known long afterwards, and the 
grandfather of James H. McCampbell, 
the banker, who recently died in the 
city of Jeffersonville. 

Surveyors were set to work plat- 
ting it into lots still covered with the 
tall forest trees. 

Charles Beggs and John Hay were 
the surveyors. 

Charles Beggs, who was afterward 
one of the men who took a prominent 
part in the free state convention, held 
at Springville October 10th, 1807', 
contributed his name, with which to 
christen the new-born town, and it 
was named Charlestown. 

Additions were made to the origi- 
nal plat, from time to time, until there 
were three hundred and ninety-nine 
lots, or about two hundred and forty 
acres of ground included within the 
.town incorporation. 



After it 1 >ecame the count)- seat, in 
1811, in the manner detailed in the 
history of Jeffersonville by an act of 
the Legislative Assembly, (and what 
influences brought that about ought 
not to be hard to guess, remembering 
who was the god-father of the new 
town, and who was in the Legislature 
at the time,) Charlestown had a boom 
and soon became a growing and pros- 
perous town. 

The prestige of being the county 
seat where law and justice Avere dis- 
pensed for the large and growing 
county of Clark, soon attracted to it 
professional men, merchants and me- 
chanics of all trades. 

Charlestown was noted from its 
start for the intelligence and high 
moral character of its citizens. 

Some of the first and most distin- 
guished men in the State resided 
there 

Here resided such distinguished 
lawyers as Judge Charles Dewey, who 
served as Judge of the Supreme Court ; 
James Scott, a distinguished lawyer, 
a delegate to the convention that 
framed the State Constitution, and 
was afterwards one of the iirst Su- 
preme Judges of the State; Jonathan 
Jennings, delegate in Congress, dele- 
gate to the Constitutional Convention, 
and its president, and afterward the 
first Governor of the State ; Isaac 
Howk, the father of Judge George Y. 
Howk, of the Supreme Court, himself 
a distinguished lawyer, member of the 
Legislature several times and Speaker 
of the House; Judge James Ross, 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



11 



presiding Judge of that Judicial Cir- 
cuit; Judge John II. Thompson, his 
successor in office; Benjamin Fergu- 
son, a distinguished lawyer and an 
associate Judge, the father of Judge 
Charles P. Ferguson, the presiding 
Justice of the Fourth Judicial Circuit ; 
and many more, all resided in Charles- 
town. 

These and many more, alike distin- 
guished in professional life, as doctors 
and ministers, professors and teachers, 
merchants and politicians have all 
jiassed away, but left their influence 
which they had stamped upon and 
gave character to Clark county as felt 
to-day. 

The first thing to be done after be- 
ing made the county seat was to build 
a court house, which was done by 
erecting a commodious brick building 
on the public square. 

This building, about thirty years 
afterward, was superseded by a new 
and larger brick building, which still 
stands in the public square and is now 
used, instead of a temple of justice, as 
a temple dedicated to the education of 
the rising generation. 

Charlestown is a town of some fif- 
teen hundred inhabitants, one of the 
most healthy and pleasant places to 
live in, in the State. In its moral and 
religious aspects, and in its educational 
facilities, it is all that can be desired 
as a home. 

Those who wish for a home where 
peace and quiet reigns supreme ; 
where morality and religion abound. 



let them go to Charlestown, and there 
they will find them. 

Owen Township. 

The next township, bordering on 
the Ohio river above that of Charles- 
town, is that of Owen. 

The exact date of its organization 
is a little uncertain. 

The records of the county court do 
not show the exact time of the order 
creating this township, but from the 
best data that can be had, it must 
have been within a year or two of 
1830, and is supposed to have been 
named for John Owen, who was a 
commissioner of the county from 1824 
to 1830. It is bounded on the east 
by the Ohio river and Bethlehem 
township, on the north by Oregon 
township, on the west by Charlestown 
township, and on the south and south- 
east by the Ohio river. 

It is, in point of wealth and popu- 
lation, one of the smallest townships 
in the county. 

Its population, according to the 
census of 1880 was only about 800, 
and its total valuation of property is 
placed at $300,000. 

Fart of the lands lying in Owen 
township belong to Clark's grant and 
part to the regular United States sur- 
ve>\ 

Sixteen of the five hundred acre 
tracts of the grant lie in Owen, cut- 
ting the township into halves and all 
the lands outside the grant are divided 
into sections of six hundred and fortj 
acres each. 



12 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



The area of the township is a little 
over fourteen thousand acres of land. 
As a rule the soil is not rich and pro- 
ductive, and it requires the most care- 
ful treatment to make it pay a reason- 
able dividend to the farmers for the 
labor and expense bestowed upon it. 

While the people of the township 
are not rich and make no great pre- 
tensions to the elegancies of life, they 
stand in good repute and are esteemed 
as a community of good and worthy 
citizens. 

Bethlehem Township. 

The village of Bethlehem antedates 
the organization of the township and 
gives it its name. 

The town of Bethlehem was laid 
out in 1812, four years before the State 
was admitted into the Union. 

Bethlehem township was organized 
in the spring of 1816 ; one of the four 
townships organized by the County 
Commissioners that year. 

It lies wholly outside the grant 
lands and its land divisions belong to 
the regular United States Congres- 
sional surveys. 

The township, as it now stands upon 
the map of the county, is bounded on 
the north by Jefferson county ; on the 
east by the Ohio river; on the south 
and west by the Ohio river and Owen 
and Washington townships. 

It is both in point of population and 
territory one of the smallest townships 
in Clark county ; and yet in point of 
wealth according to the returns made 
for taxation purposes in 188(5, at the 



last land valuation, it exceeded Owen, 
Carr and Union. 

Bethlehem township has some re- 
markable climatic features peculiar to 
itself. 

It is said its climate is mild and 
equable. 

Heavy dews are almost unknown in 
the summer and frosts in the winter 
and even fogs are uncommon, and the 
people are unusually healthy. 

The soil in Bethlehem township is 
of a diversified character, 1 mt as a gen- 
eral thing it is good, well adapted to 
the cultivation of the staple produc- 
tions of the farm. 

Along the margins of its streams, 
where the beech, the white oak, buck- 
eye, poplar and black walnut grow in 
abundance, the soil is good and pro- 
duces well and well repays the 
husbandman for his toil. 

"These lands," says the geologist, 
"will ever remain productive, because 
they are continually being enriched by 
the disintegration of the rocks above." 

The soil is a dark loam, partaking 
of the shade of the limestones. 

It has but few streams running 
through it. 

Little Creek, a branch of Camp 
Creek, heads in the extreme north line 
of the township and runs in a south- 
westerly direction and empties into 
Camp Creek, which continues in the 
same direction, forming, for a short dis- 
tance, the boundary line between Beth- 
lehem and Owen townships before 
emptying into the Ohio river. 

The bottom lands along these little 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY 



13 



streams and along the Ohio river make 
rich farms. 

In the vicinity of the town of Beth- 
lehem lies a bottom of more than a 
thousand acres of rich land divided up 
into rich and cultivated farms, with 
well improved buildings and fences. 

This body of land is known as the 
"Bethlehem Bottom." 

The village of Bethlehem is the only 
town in the township. 

It was located on the Ohio river 
about thirty miles above Jeffersonville, 
in 1812. 

It is a place of some local impor- 
tance, noted as a steamboat landing 
place, and it ships to the markets 
above and below, the surplus produc- 
tions of the surrounding farmers. 

It is a pleasant village, with some 
two hundred and fifty inhabitants, 
with good church and school facilities. 

But with the few exceptions found 
in and around the village of Bethle- 
hem in the way of mechanics, mer- 
chants and professional men, the great 
body of the people of the townshipare 
engaged in farming, and, as a ride; the 
soil is well adapted to that pursuit. 

The fruit industry is one of grow- 
ing importance in various portions of 
Clark county and especially upon the 
Knobs and upon the Ohio Bluffs in 
Owen and Bethlehem townships. 

These knobs and bluffs have been 
found, by experiments, well adapted 
to the cultivation of the peach, and 
now the peaches grown in Clark 
county have taken the highest place 
in the fruit markets of the country. 



In connection with the cultivation 
and shipment of these delicious fruits, 
large canning and preserving works 
at Bethlehem have been established to 
care for ami utilize the surplus prod- 
uct. 

This year some 20,000 peach trees 
have been planted along the Ohio 
Bluffs above Bull Creek alone. 

The early settlement of Bethlehem 
township was made by a brave and 
venturesome race. Settlements were 
made as early as 1805. The Gittners, 
the Kellcys, the Hamiltons, the Sim- 
ingtons, the Abbotts, the Thislers, the 
Rodgers and Plaskets were the pio- 
neers of Bethlehem Township and 
converted the wilderness into s mili ng 
homes and cultivated fields. 

The pioneers of Bethlehem town- 
ship seemed not to fear the Indians 
and cared not to provide themselves 
l>\ artificial protection against danger 
from that source, or they felt them- 
selves able, open handed, to protect 
and defend themselves against savage 
aggression. 

At one time, however, they did re- 
sort to a preparation for defence. 

After the Pigeon Roost massacre 
they built a stockade on the high land 
overlooking the Ohio on the farm 
owned by Robert Simington. 

But they soon got over their scare 
and had no use for their stockade. 

Washington Township. 

This township, which was organized 
in 1816, lies in the extreme northeast 
part of the county. 



14 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



It lias been subjected to several 
changes since its original construction, 
until it assumed its present' proportions 
and boundaries. 

As it now stands it is bounded on 
the north by Jefferson and Scott conn- 
ties; on the east by Bethlehem town- 
ship and Jefferson county ; on the 
south by Owen township and on the 
west by Oregon township. 

It covers an area of 22,690 acres of 
land, and its total valuation of lands 
in 1846 was $382,410. 

The topography of Washington 
township presents no new features to 
the general character of the land in 
that part of the county. 

The surface is slightly broken along 
the streams. 

Along the higher grounds, on the 
ridges from which the head waters < >f 
the creeks flow, the land is level, even 
sometimes to wetness. 

In the vicinity of the village of 
New Washington, the drainage of the 
country is excellent and the produc- 
tiveness of the soil increased accord- 
ingly. The land in this locality is 
well adapted to the cultivation of 
wheat and even excellent crops of com 
are raised. While there are no very 
rich men residing here, there are a 
number of well to do farmers scat- 
tered over the township, where refine- 
ment is found and elegant hospitality 
is dispensed. 

New Washington is a prosperous 
village of some 400 inhabitants, situ- 
ated in this township, where they 
have good schools and church services 



for the education and religious train- 
ing of their children. 

Oregon Township. 

Oregon township, up to 1852, was 
a part of Charlestown township. 

But in that year on the petition < 4' 
the inhabitants of the northern por- 
tion of that township, setting forth 
the hardship and inconvenience of 
those living at that extreme end of 
the township in having to come so far 
to vote and attend to their township 
business, presented to the board of 
county commissioners, praying for the 
organization of a new township out 
of that portion of Charlestown town- 
ship. 

Their request was granted and a 
new township was organized and 
named Oregon. 

Exactly why it was given the name 
of Oregon is not apparent from any 
known facts, unless perhaps, about 
that time Oregon Territory tilled a 
large space in the political history of 
the country, and those who had the 
christening of the new-born township 
had fallen in love with our far north- 
ern possession and named the town- 
ship accordingly. 

Oregon is wholly in the Illinois 
grant and is composed entirely of five 
hundred acre tracts, or what was so 
intended, by the surveyors that laid off 
these old soldiers' lands. 

It is five tracts wide and ten long, 
with the exception of three or four 
fractional or parts of tracts lying in 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



15 



Scott county, making the township 
contain about 18,500 acres of land. 

It is bounded on the north by Scott 
county; on the east by Washington 
township; on the south by Charles- 
town and Owen townships, and on 
the west by Charlestown and Monroe 
townships. 

But little can be said in favor of the 
soil in this township. 

The lands are light, putty colored 
clay, wet during a great portion of the 
year and invariably cold and soggy. 

The surface of the greater portion of 
tlie township is level, and no part of it 
is so badly broken as to render it unfit 
for cultivation. 

Parts of the land are well adapted 
to clover, and elegant fruits are grown 
upon that part which lies nearest to 
the river. 

Even in many parts of the township 
the soil is adapted to blue grass. 

The only stream of any importance 
is that of Fourteen Mile Creek which, 
in a crooked manner meanders through 
the township from north to south and 
empties into the Ohio at the division 
line between Charlestown and Owen 
townships, fourteen miles from Louis- 
ville, which gives it its name. 

Nothing need be said about the 
character of its inhabitants, further 
than they are a hardy industrious 
community, and in religious and edu- 
cational matters are not behind their 
neighbors. The total valuation of all 
taxables of the township for L886 was 
$240,783. 



Monroe Township. 

This is the second largest township 
in the county. It contains over thirty- 
five thousand acres of land and is situ- 
ated in the extreme north part of the 
county. 

It is bounded on the north by Scott 
county; on the east by Oregon town- 
ship; on the south by Charlestown 
and Union townships; and on the west 
by Scott county and Wood township. 

It has not always been included in 
its present boundaries, nor even has it 
been known as Monroe township. 

It lias undergone many changes. 

It would be of but little interest to 
the general reader to follow all the 
changes that were made in recon- 
structing this township. 

It was first known as Collins town- 
ship and its present name was given 
it about the year 1826, as it is referred 
to in an order appointing fence view- 
ers for Monroe township under date 
of January 1st, 1827. The west line, 
between it and Wood township, was 
established as early as 1816, but not 
under the name of Monroe. 

As Monroe is a very larire town- 
ship, being about twelve miles long 
from east to west and six miles broad 
from north to south, it has a greatly 
diversified soil in point of fertility and 
of local \ alue. 

It reaches from the low bottom 
lands to the highest knobs in the 
count v. 

As we travel noitl the J. M. & 

I. R. K. we find up grade until we 

reach the northern limits of the conn- 



10 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



ty, and here we come to the summit, 
the highest ground in the county. 

The knobs seem to terminate here 
and spread out in a sort of table land. 

On the east, the land is hilly and but 
poorly fit for anything but grazing. 

Around Henryville, the most im- 
portant village in the township, of 
about 400 inhabitants, situated on the 
J. M. & I. railroad nineteen miles 
from Jeffersonville the ground is roll- 
ing, but presents a pleasing view to 
the passenger. 

To the west the knobs rise to great 
height, and render the landscape mag- 
nificent and picturesque. 

These knobs range west and south- 
west through Monroe and Wood town- 
ships into Floyd county until they 
terminate at the Ohio river a short 
distance below the city of New Al- 
bany. 

It was thought, at one time, that 
these knobs were of but little use but 
for their timber. 

But they have been found well 
adapted to peach culture and the knob 
lands are being extensively utilized 
for that purpose, and will no doubt in 
time all be used for this purpose. 

Although scattering settlements 
were made in this township as early 
as 1806, the soil of a large portion of 
it being undesirable for agricultural 
purj toses, its settlement was very slow. 

Much of that portion of the county 
lying in the northwest part, now in 
Monroe township, was hardly known 
to the people along the Ohio river and 



in the older and more central portions 
of the county. 

The northern boundary of Clark 
county was uncertain. 

Scott county, which was largely 
taken from Clark county, was not 
organized until 1820, which left the 
north and northwest boundary of Mon- 
roe township in doubt and uncer- 
tainty. 

Even after the organization of Scott 
county it was thought that the scene 
of that noted event in the history of 
Indiana, the Pigeon Roost massacre, 
took place in a Clark count)' neigh- 
borhood. 

But when the county line was set- 
tled by actual survey, the neighbor- 
hood where the massacre took place 
was found to be in Scott county. 

The history of that massacre is 
most horrible in detail. 

Men, women and children, who had 
no thought of danger, were cut down, 
and their bodies were thrown into their 
cabins and burned with them. 

This occurred on the .' J >rd of Septem- 
ber, 1812, the year after the battle of 
Tippecanoe. 

The place where it occurred is 
known as the Pigeon Boost neighbor- 
hood, which derives its name from the 
fact that the wild pigeons had made it 
a roosting place for years. 

From the best information that can 
be obtained of the events of that mas- 
sacre the whole number that were 
killed were twenty-one; three men 
four women and fourteen children. 

"The first victims of this traffic af- 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



17 



fair were a Mr. Paine and a Mr. Coif- 
man. These two persons were about 
three miles from the settlement and 
wholly unarmed. 

The Indians came upon them wholly 
by accident and murdered them upon 
tile spot. 

Coffman lived in Kentucky and was 
on a visit to Paine. 

They next found a Mrs. Collins, the 
w ife of young Henry Collins, who had 
been visiting a neighbor living near 
the present site of Vienna. 

She was killed while returning 
home. 

The family winch they fell upon 
next was that of Mr. Paine, whom 
they had already killed. It appears 
that they killed them in different di- 
rections from the house and then 
dragged their bodies, trailing the 
ground with their blood, and threw 
them into the house, which, after 
plundering, they set fire to and burned 
it to ashes. 

Nothing remained of the bodies 
but a mass of offensive matter. 

This attack was made in the even- 
ing, the sun being only about an hour 
and a half high. 

Richard Collins' family consisted 
of his wife and seven children, who 
were all brutally murdered. 

Their bodies were found in differ- 
ent places as they were cut down 
while attempting to make their es- 
cape. 

Mr. Collins was absent from home 
at the time. 



He belonged to a company of rang- 
ers and was then at Vincennes. 

At the same time they killed the 
family of John Morris, composed of 
his wife and three children. 

These two families lived but a 
short distance apart. Mr. Morris Avas 
also from his home. 

He had been drafted on the call of 
Governor Harrison for service on the 
Wabash and was at that time at Jef- 
fersonville. 

This horrid butchery of men, wom- 
en and innocent children fell like a 
thunder-bolt from a clear sky. It 
threw the whole country into such a 
feverish state of excitement, that for 
many years afterward the least sign of 
Indians would cause a general panic 
ami no doubt greatly retarded the 
early settlement of this part of the 
county. 

I'xiux Township. 

This is the youngest, the last born 
of all the sister townships of the 
county. 

The same reason that operated upon 
the public in the organization of the 
previously constructed township, op- 
erated in this; public convenience de- 
manded it. It was organized in 1858 
and was taken from Monroe, Charles- 
town and Carr townships. 

It occupies the central portion of 
the county and lias an area of some 
thirteen thousand acres. It is bounded 
on the north mainly by Monroe town- 
ship; on the east by Charlestown 
township; on the south by Charles- 



18 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



town and ( ';u t townships and on the 
wrest by Charlestowii and Carr town- 
sliips. 

It takes its name from the fact that 
it was made up of fragments taken 
from the three surrounding townships, 
Monroe, Charlestowii and Carr, and 
united into one. 

Silver Creek is its principal stream, 
flowing entirely through it from north 
t<> south, with its branches, Blue Lick, 
Caney Fork and Cane Run, of which 
Blue Lick is the largest. 

It runs through the northern part 
of Union township and takes its name 
from the blue slate which forms its 
bed. 

Caney Fork and Cane Run take 
their names from the canebrakes that 
once grew along their streams. 

In this township lies the great Silver 
Creek valley, which in early times was 
so celebrated as hunting ground of 
Indians, because of the fact of the 
shelter which its undergrowth afforded 
the wild game of that day as a hiding 
place, and there it was hunted for by 
the savage hunters. 

This Silver Creek valley was called 
by the settlers the Pea Vine Valley, 
because of the fact that pea vines lit- 
erally covered the face of the earth 
and afforded excellent pasture for their 
cattle. 

But with the advance of civilization 
and the attendant cultivation of the 
soil, the cane and the pea vine, with 
the \if(\ Men of the forest and the wild 
game, have all disappeared. 

South of Memphis, the principal vil- 



lage in Union township, the country is 
mostly level, but the soil is heavy and 
not of easy cultivation. 

For some reason even the bottom 
lands are not productive and require a 
great deal of care and nursing to make 
them yield paying crops. 

In the hilly portion of the township, 
lying east of Silver Creek, the soil is of 
the poorest quality. 

Rut a small portion of the township 
may be said to be at all productive, 
where hay, oats, wheat, corn, iye and 
potatoes can be raised to advantage. 

West of Memphis, along the Blue 
Lick branch, the soil is adapted to 
grass: considerable attention is given 
to stock raising and large dairies are in 
active operation. 

One characteristic of Union town- 
ship which gives it a strong recom- 
mendation is the purity and abundance 
of water. 

There is hardly a farm of any size in 
the township, upon which there is not 
a stream of running water sufficient 
for stock at all seasons of the year. 

Mineral water is found in abun- 
dance in the northwest portion of the 
township. 

Memphis, the principal village in 
the township, is located on the, I. M. & 
I. railroad, fifteen miles from Jeffer- 
sonville; has a population of about 500 
inhabitants. 

Flour, lumber and staves are its 
principal shipments. 

Wood Township. 
Wood is oneof the oldest townships 
in the count v. 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



10 



It was organized as early as 1807 at 
the time of its first settlement. 

It is located in the extreme north- 
west part of the county. 

In fact it is almost entirely isolated 
from the rest of the county, only 
connected with it on the east end of 
the parallelogram, being hounded <>n 
two sides, the' north and west, by 
Washington county; on the south by 
Floyd county, and on the west l>v 
Carr and Monroe townships. 

Although it was organized as early 
as 1807 it was not organized by com- 
plete metes and bounds until 1816. 

But many changes have been made 
in its boundary lines since then until 
its present bounds were established. 

The counties of Floyd and Scott 
have both been organized since then ; 
taken partly from Clark county, and 
the boundary lines be ween those two 
counties and that of Clark fixed the 
lines on three sides of Wood township 
and when Carr township was organ- 
ized in 1854, which was struck off 
almost entirely from the eastern side 
of Y\ ood, the eastern line of Wood 
was established. 

It took its name from an early set- 
tle]' by the name of George Wood, 
who, from the best information attain- 
able at this time, settled on the 
Muddy Fork of Silver Creek as early 
as 1807. 

He was a native of South Carolina, 
and emigrated north in 1802 and first 
located in Charlestown township, but 
as said before, removed to Muddy 
Fork and located there in 1807. 



The soil in this township is quite 
diversified, made up of all kinds of 
hills and valleys, poor hills and knobs, 
and fertile bottoms. 

The valley lying at the foot of the 
knobs, which were called "Silver Hills" 
by the early settlers is about eight 
miles long and from one to two miles 
\\ ide. 

Down this valley winds the Muddy 
Fork of Silver Creek, the shiftings of 
which have created a rich surface loam, 
enriched by the decaying leaves and 
other vegetable matter from the adja- 
cent hillsides and a deep subsoil of 
gravel. 

This soil is well suited to the growth 
of all the staple farm products and 
fruits of all kinds. Strawberries grow 
to great perfection here and their cul- 
ture has become quite an industry. 

Thousands of gallons are raised and 
shipped to distant markets every 
year. 

The Muddy Fork of Silver Creek 
and its tributaries, Dry Fork, Giles 
Branch, Morris Branch, and Kelly's 
Branch, is the principal stream in the 
township. 

Why the knobs were called "Silver 
Hills," or the stream which winds 
down its bottoms was called Silver 
Creek, will never be satisfactorily ex- 
plained. 

Another of the unaccountable things 
connected with the early naming of 
things in this settlement, as remarked 
by one of its oldest settlers, is "why 
this fork of Silver Creek, of all others, 
should have been designated as 'mud- 



20 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



dy' when in fact its waters are clear 
and silvery and no stream can boast 
of purer and more sparkling waters." 

New Providence, the only village 
in the township, is situated on the 
line of the L. N. A. <fe C. railway, in 
the valley of Muddy Fork, midway 
between the knobs. It has a popu- 
lation of about 4(10, and is a "Towing 
and prosperous place. 

The white sand used by the De- 
panw Works at New Albany for the 
manufacture of glass, is procured a 
short distance from here and shipped 
to that city. 

Large quantities of tan bark, leath- 
er, tobacco and otherfarm produce are 
also shipped. 

And in season the shipping of 
strawberries is quite a. business, giv- 
ing in their picking and preparation, 
employment for numbers of women 
and u'irls. 

The Borden Institute, a school in- 
tended for the education of school 
teachers has been founded here by 
Prof. William W. Borden. It prom- 
ises to be of inestimable benefit to the 
cause of education in the State. 

Carr Township. 

This township lies on the western 
border of the county. 

It was organized in 1854, being- 
taken in a great part from the east- 
ern portion of Wood township. 

While it has an area over the aver- 
aye of the other townships, having 
over seventeen thousand acres, it is 
small in population and in wealth. 



The total valuation of all property 
for taxation purposes in 1886 was 
only $10."), ITS, and its total vote cast 
at the presidential election in 1888 
was 210 votes. 

The township is bounded on the 
north by Wood, Monroe and l T nion 
townships; on the east by Union and 
Silver Creek townships; on the south 
by Floyd county; and on the west by 
\\ ood township. 

Some of the boundary lines of this 
township are very irregular, ranning 
zigzag with dividing tracts of land 
and with the meandering of Muddv 
Fork of Silver Creek, which forms 
part of its boundary. Carr township 
has a large proportion of knobs with- 
in its lines. In the southwest corner 
it has a large tract, at least four thou- 
sand acres, and in the northeastern cor- 
ner it has nearly as large an area of 
knol >s. 

( hit of its seventeen thousand acres, 
more than one-third are knobs, and al- 
most worthless, which can account 
satisfactorily for its sparse population 
and its poverty. 

It is claimed that iron ore of a g I 

quality is found in certain localities in 
this township. What may be its 
future possibilities is for the future to 
develop; but up to this time its de- 
posit of iron ore has not Been utilized 
in the manufacture of iron. 

The Muddy Fork of Silver Creek, 
which we found meandering its 
crooked way between the knobs in 
Wood township, we find entering 
Carr township on the west and passing 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



21 



through it in nearly an easterly direc- 
tit hi, cutting the township nearly into 
two halves. 

From a half mile to three-quarters 

of a mile wide on both sides of the 
creel? are bottom lands. l>nt not as 
would naturally be supposed, very 
productive as farm land. 

Whatever it may have been when 
first opened to cultivation three-quar- 
ters of a century ago, it has become 
exhausted and its vigorous fertility 
impaired. 

But it won't do to say that fanning is 
a failure in Carr township, for such 
would not be true, for there are many 
prosperous ami well-to-do farmers in 
that township. 

There are a number of mineral 
springs in portions of Can township, 
whose waters are said to he, in certain 
diseases, of great medicinal value. 

The time may come when they will 
be utilized as sources of health more 
than they are now. 

The first greal necessity in the way 
of manufactures in these new settle- 
ments was a grist mill to grind their 
corn and wheat to give them bread, 
and mills sprang up as soon as settle- 
ments were made. 

Close upon the heels of grist mills 
came still houses for the manufacture 
of whiskey, not as a food necessity hut 
a- a necessity to convert their surplus 
corn into an article they could easily 
convert into money. 

.Muddy Fork afforded excellent 
water power for mills, and the emi- 
grants availed themselves of it. Wher- 



ever a mill was built a still house was 
apt lo he found close by. 

The very best men of that da\ 
thought it an honorable, legitimate 
business, and saint and sinner alike 
used it, as all then supposed, for the 
benefit of their health. 

in the early settlement of this county 
it was thought absolutely necessary, 
in order to preserve their health, that 
every member of the family should 
take a dram of whiskey before break- 
fast. 

And the bottle of whiskey ever 
stood upon the sideboard of all, with 
an open invitation to all comers to 
take a drink. 

Whiskey was a necessity at a log 
rolling, a house raising; and in the 
harvest field. 

It was thought impossible in those 
days that any man could work in the 
harvest field without the use of 
whiskey. 

What a change in public sentiment- 
since that day, and none more so than 
upon the question of the use of intox- 
icants as a preservative of health. 

CaiT township had its full share of 
mills and still houses at its early set- 
tlement. 

But distilleries in Clark county, as 
well as in Carr township, are things 

of the past. 

There is not a single distillery now 
in Clark county. 

The educational affairs of Can- 
township have been well managed and 
its schools are up to the highest stan- 
dard in the county. 



22 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



The township is divided into six 
school districts for the convenience of 
the school children. 

There is nothing of any special im- 
portance connected with Carr town- 
ship to give it historical importance. 

Like the other portions of the coun- 
ty it lias gradually advanced in wealth 
and population; nothing phenomenal 
or out of the usual path of progress. 

One of its earliest settlers attained 
sufficient public importance to give 
the township historical fame. 

General John Carr, after whom the 
township was named, was one of the 
oldest pioneers in the township, having 
settled there with his father in 1806. 
He served his country in its military 
defence against the Indians at the age 
of eighteen. 

In the fall of 181 1 he joined, under 
Capt Biggs, the Tippecanoe expedition 
and was on Nov. 7th in that bloody 
tight with the Indians. 

He served all through the war of 
1812 and was in several important 
engagements. 

Through all that war he proved 
himself to be a brave soldier and an 
able and efficient officer. 

After the close of the war he was 
honored by his fellow-citizens of Clark 
county, in choosing him to fill several 
civil offices of trust and profit. 

He was elected to the office of 
county recorder for several terms ; the 
office of clerk of the Clark Circuit 
Court two terms; he was a Jackson 
elector in 1824; he was one of the 
agents appointed to lay off the town 



of Indianapolis, and finally, in August, 
1831, lie was elected a member of 
Congress and served in that high and 
honorable capacity, in all, eight years. 

His Congressional career was noted 
for industry, efficiency and usefulness. 

He died on the 20th of January, 
1845. 

Of him it could be truly said that 
he was one of the noblest works of 
God, a truly honest man. 

The Louisville, New Albany & Chi- 
cago railway runs in a northwesterly 
direction going north through Can' 
township. 

It enters the township at the south- 
east ' corner, follows up the Muddy 
Fork valley and passes through the 
center of the township, nearly seven 
miles in it. 

Silvee Ceeek Township. 

From some cause or other, the rec- 
ords of the county do not give the 
exact date of the organization of Sil- 
ver Creek township. 

It was in existence as early as LSI 5, 
because at that date, the records of 
the county commissioner's court show 
that a petition of the citizens of Silver 
Creek township was presented, asking 
for the construction of a public road 
leading from the town of New Albany 
to Charlestown. 

But the Silver Creek township of 
today is nothing like the one of that 
early day. 

It originally embraced a greater 
portion of the western part of the 
countv. 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



23 



It seems to have come into existence 
the dissolution of the orerani- 



iii 



4 

zations of Springville and Clarksville 
townships. 

These ancient townships were 
dropped from the records and others 
formed out of their original territory 
and they passed out of existence. 

It takes its name, no doubt, from 
Silver Creek, the largest stream in 
Clark county. 

How it came by its name is a matter 
of speculation. 

It will, no doubt, be remembered 
that, in the history of Wood township, 
reference was made to the tall cone- 
shaped knobs, at whose base the nour- 
ishing little town of New Providence 
is situated, known by the early settlers 
as "Silver Hills." The creek which 
runs along their base is the Muddy 
Folk of Silver Creek. The question 
for the historian to settle is, did the 
hills give name to the creek or via 
versa '. 

Silver Creek township has been sub- 
jected to the same influences in chang- 
ing, curtailing and modifying its 
boundaries; that of the law of con- 
venience and necessity of its inhabi- 
tants. 

As early as ISO.'!, in order to enable 
the people to attend their spring elec- 
tions at the time of the spring rise 
in Silver Creek, it was made the bound- 
ary line between two townships, and 
all the territory that lay west of the 
creel; was attached to Clarksville tow n- 
ship, now known as Floyd county. 

Silver Creek township, as it now 



exists on the map of the county, is 
bounded on the north by Can* and 
Charlestown townships ; on the east 
by Jeffersonville, Utica and Charles- 
town townships; on the south by Jef- 
fersonville township and Floyd county; 
on the west by Carr township and 
Floyd county. 

Silver Creek, like a silver cord, 
seems to wind around the township 
from its northeastern point to its 
southwestern. 

It is the smallest township in the 
county, containing only 9,789 acres or 
a little over fifteen square miles. 

Although it stands twelfth and last 
in size, it stands sixth in valuation of 
property assessed in 1886. 

Silver Creek township was noted in 
its early settlement for its immense 
growth of timber. 

Its first settlers described its timber 
as marvelous. 

The low bottom lands, as also the 
higher uplands were literally covered 
with oak, poplar, hickory and beech 
trees of immense growth. 

These forest trees furnished great 
sources of income to the early settlers, 
and gave employment to many hands 
and to the farmers during the winter 
season in cutting and hauling it to 
market. 

This timber w r as used for building, 
purposes in the cities of the Falls, and 
the finest of it for steamboat building, 
which was carried on there at that day 
to a large extent. 

One peculiarity about these timber 
lands was there was little if any un- 



24 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



dergrowth, but instead of an under- 
growth of timber, these lands were 
completely covered with a rich growth 
of pea-vines, which was for the feed- 
ing of stock equal to the best clover 
fields. 

This nutritious vine was all that 
stock needed while it lasted. 

But by constant pasturage, in a few 
years the pea-vines were destroyed. 

Another peculiarity to the soil of 
that day was the indigenous growth of 
cane. 

From the most reliable accounts, at 
an early day the whole face of the 
country, from the Ohio river to the 
foot of the knobs, was covered with a 
thick growth of cane from fifteen to 
twenty feet high and grew so thick 
upon the ground that it was almost 
impenetrable. 

These canebrakes, with the wild 
game they sheltered and protected 
from the huntsman, have passed away 
before the advance of civilization. 

Where these heavy timbers, these 
pea-vines, these cane-brakes grew in 
the long ago, now are rich harvest 
fields, smiling orchards and the elegant 
homes of a rich and prosperous people. 

A great portion of all the lands in 
Silver Creek township are level. 

There are no hills of any impor- 
tance in it. 

The knobs do not enter the town- 
ship. 

It is too small to have much diver- 
sified soil or climate. 

The bottom lands of Silver Creek 



are not noted for their richness of soil 
and their productive qualities. 

As a general thing the soil is not 
rich. It is made up of a kind of cold 
loam, fertilized by washings down 
from the knobs. 

In the valley of Silver Creek fine 
crops of corn are raised. While fruit 
culture in other portions of the county 
has become a specialty, in Silver Creek 
township it is a failure. 

The soil is unadapted to it ami w hat 
does grow is of poor quality. 

There are a number of fine farms in 
Silver Creek township and a few 
farmers are said to be rich; made their 
wealth off their farms. 

Upon an average it can be truly 
said that the people in the township 
of Silver Creek are well-to-do, content- 
ed and happy. 

There is not much that is peculiar 
or striking in the early history of the 
settlement of this township to distin- 
guish it from that of the rest of the 
county. 

The first settlement made of which 
there is any authentic record was 
made in the latter part of the year 
1799, by Elder Absalom Littell, of 
the Baptist chinch, on the west side of 
Si her Creek. 

But in ITilN, twelve months prior 
to the emigration of Elder Littell, a 
Protestant church had been organized, 
the first in the State, and a house of 
worship erected on the east bank of 
Silver Creek, near the Littell farm. 

It would be interesting to follow 
the history of this pioneer church 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



25 



through all its changes down to the 
present time. 

But space forbids. 
Spencer Collins, a branch of the 
Collins family that Lad settled early 
in Monroe township, settled on the 
Muddy Fork of Silver Creek and 
built a mill as early as 1800 near 
where the village of Petersburg now 
stands. 

The facilities afforded as a motive 
power by Silver Creek and its Muddy 
Folk, invited to the early construction 
of mills upon them and the "Old Red- 
mond Mill," about the center of the 
township, and the old Montgomery 
mill about three-fourths of a mile 
above Petersburg, on Elk Run, were 
all built at an early day. The Welles 
settled on Camp Run as early as 1800. 
The manufacture of corn whiskey 
was an important industry at an early 
day, and many of the very best citi- 
zens of the township operated still 
houses. 

It was not only profitable to the 
manufacturer and afforded the neigh- 
1 >< »ring farmers a good market for their 
surplus corn, but was held as honora- 
ble as any calling. 

How things change; or rather in 
what a different light the same thing 
is looked upon in this age, and three- 
quarters of a century agi >. 

Hamburg is the oldest village in the 
township. It is located at the termi- 
nus of the Jeff ersonville and Hamburg 
turnpike road, and on the line of the 
old Jefferaonville and Salem road, 



about eight miles north of Jeff erson- 
ville. 

It was laid off by its proprietors, 
Abram Littell and Thos. Cunningham, 
in 1837. 

It never did amount to much of a 
place. 

There is but very little business 
done in the place, and it is now se- 
verely stricken with universal decay. 

It is only a question of time, and a 
short time at that, when it will finally 
disappear from the list of towns on 
the map of the county. 

Petersburg, another little village of 
Silver Creek township, was laid out 
about 1854, by Lewis Bottorff. 

It was named in honor of Peter 
McKossky, a Russian, who lived near 
1 >y < >n Muddy Folk. 

There are, perhaps, some seventv- 
five or a hundred inhabitants in the 
place, pretty much all engaged direct- 
ly or indirectly, in working for the 
Louisville Cement Company, whose 
mills are located there. 

It derives all its support from these 
mills. 

The health of the place is good. 

Work can always lie found at good 
wages, and none need to suffer for 
want, unless too lazy to work. 

Selleesbueg is the largest and mosl 
prosperous village in the township. 

It is a real alive, go-ahead village. 

It has grown more within the last 
year or so than any other town in the 
county. 

It is located on the J. M. A: I. rail- 



26 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY 



road, about nine miles north of Jeffer- 
son ville. 

It was laid out in 1846 by Moses W. 
Sellers, after whom it took its name, 
and John Hill. 

It has a large flouring' mill Avhich is 
doing a big business. 

It has extensive cooper shops for 
supplying 1 >arrels for the cement man- 
ufactures in the neighborhood, which 
give employment to a large number of 
lal it irers and mechanics. 

It is up with the times in churches 
and schools anil has an industrious and 
prosperous population and has every 
indication or becoming a place of con- 
siderable commercial and manufactur- 
ing importance at no distant day. 

The hydraulic cement business is 
already one of great importance, and 
there is no limit to the extent to which 
it. may be carried, because there is no 
limit to the hydraulic limestone out of 
which it is manufactured in the neigh- 
borhood of Sellersburg. 

One would naturally suppose that 
the ordinance of 1787, forever for- 
bidding the existence of slavery or 
involuntary servitude in the North 
west Territory, would have settled 
that cpiestion at once and forever in 
that territory. 

But such was not the fact. 

The question of the introduction of 
slavery into the Indiana Territory was, 
from the time of its organization, 
earnestly favored by a strong party 
and urged with bitter vehemence, and 
caused strong opposition by those who 
had emigrated from the slave States 



for the purpose of getting away from 
that institution. 

Memorials were voted by the Terri- 
ritorial Council to Congress, praying 
for the repeal of the sixth article of 
the ordinance prohibiting slavery, 
maiuly supported by the representa- 
tives from Illinois and Knox counties. 

In 1805 a petition was before the 
Territorial Legislative Council asking 
Congress to permit the introduction 
of slavery into the Territory, purely 
upon benevolent grounds, in thus re- 
lieving the South of its surplus and 
consequently over burdened and mis- 
used slaves, and permitting them to 
come where they would receive more 
humane treatment and have better 
homes. 

But the petition was not passed, and 
in this instance, as in every effort of 
the kind, the representatives of Clark 
county voted against the proposition 
to introduce slavery. 

The terms of the representatives to the 
first Territorial Assembly being about 
to expire by limitation, an election for 
representatives for the second General 
Assembly was ordered and held on 
the first Monday in February, 1807. 

At this election James Beggs was 
elected in place of Davis Floyd who 
had represented the county in the 
previous Assembly. 

Mr. Floyd at this time was under a 
cloud. 

He was a Virginian and had served 
under George Rogers Clai.'c. 

He had settled in Clark's grant; 
was the first Ilecorder of Clark county 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



27 



in 1801 and was appointed Sheriff in 
1802. 

At the time of the election for rep- 
resentatives in 1<S07 lie had become 
implicated in Aaron Burr's conspiracy 
and was convicted and sentenced to 
three hours' imprisonment in the 
county jail. 

James Beau's was a Virginian and a 
' son of Thomas Beggs, a commissary in 
the Revolutionary Army. 

He came to Indiana territory about 
the beginning of the present century, 
bought himself a five hundred acre 
tract in Clark's grant in Clark county 
and went t< > farming. 

He was a graduate of William and 
.Mary's College, and was a man of learn- 
ing and research. 

He was a strong anti-slavery man 
and he and his two brothers were, dur- 
ing this slavery controversy, the head 
and front of the anti-slaver}" party in 
Clark county. 

At this session of the Legislature, 
which met in August, 1807, the pro- 
slavery advocates seemed to have com- 
plete control of things. Both houses 
adopted memorials to Congress asking 
for the suspension of the sixth article 
of the ordinance by two-third majori- 
ties. 

This alarmed the Free Soil party of 
impending danger and the people of 
Clark county became aroused. 

A mass convention was called for 
October 10th of that year, at Spring- 
vide, the former count)- seat, to take 
action and denounce the Legislative 
resolutions. 



A large number attended. 

John Beggs, a brother of the repre- 
sentative, was made president and our 
old friend, Davis Floyd, acted as sec- 
retary. 

Great harmony of action prevailed, 
and a strong memorial to Congress 
was unanimously adopted, protesting 
against the action of the Legislative 
Assembly. 

And right here comes in a historical 
fact worthy to be remembered. 

It is generally understood that Gen- 
eral Cass, in his celebrated letter, orig- 
inated the idea of "popular sovereign- 
ty," sometimes designated as "squatter 
sovereignty." 

This position was taken for the set- 
tlement of the slavery question, in this 
State, in the Springville memorial, 
s«»me forty years before the Cass letter 
was written. 

Our Springville memorialists say. 
after stating the fact, that at best it 
was doubtful how the people of the 
territory then stood upon the slavery 
question: "We feel satisfied that, at 
all events, Congress will suspend any 
legislative act on this subject, until we 
shall, by the Constitution, be admitted 
into the Union, and have a right to 
adopt such a constitution, in this 
respect, as may comport with the 
wishes of a majority of the citizens." 

Notwithstanding Davis Floyd had 
been retired from politics for a season 
in consequence of his complicity in 
Burr's conspiracy, he was elected clerk 
of the House of Representatives for 
the session of 1807. 



28 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



This caused a terrible hubbub among 
his pro-slavery enemies and they de- 
nounced him as a conspirator and 
asked for his dismissal as clerk. 

The House paid no attention to 
these demands, and on July 6, 1808, 
Governor Harrison revoked Davis 
Floyd's commission as major of the 
Clark county militia, and as a Falls 
pilot. 

So the slave party got their revenge. 

But little transpired at the next or 
third Legislative Assembly to change 
the relative position between the two 
contending parties upon the slavery 
question. 

The representatives from Clark 
county maintained the position of that 
county as hostile to that institution, 
and voted against it every time the 
question came up. 

John Paul and Thos. Downs repre- 
sented Clark county in the Assembly 
which met November 12th, 1810. 

James Beggs was the councilor from 
Clark in that Assembly, and was cho- 
sen its president. 

But the pro-slavery party received 
a hard blow about this time, in the 
election of Jonathan Jennings as dele- 
gate in Congress from the Indiana 
Territory, over Thomas Randolph, a 
Virginian and a strong pro-slavery 
man. 

It made a few spasmodic efforts of 
revival after that, but its prestige was 
gone, and the question was about set- 
tled. 

The repeals of the indenture law of 
1807 and the enactment of a law to 



prevent kidnapping and the unlawful 
removing of negroes from the territory 
under severe penalties, put the finish- 
ing stroke to Indiana slavery. 

The vote in the Legislative Coun- 
cil, upon the last named act was a 
tie, and was decided by the casting 
vote of its president, who was James 
Beggs of Clark county. 

That was a proud feather in old 
Clark's cap. 

It is a. matter of pride and congrat- 
ulation to the people of Clark county, 
of the present day, that, in all that 
slavery controversy, and sometimes 
bitter as it Mas between Jennings and 
Randolph, Clark county never wav- 
ered in her position against slavery. 

Her representatives stood firm 
against all attempts in that direction. 

Two men ,of Clark county, James 
Beg^s and Jonathan Jennings, the one 
as president of the Legislative Coun- 
cil, in giving his casting vote for the 
repeal of the obnoxious indenture 
law; and the other as an anti-slavery 
candidate for delegate in Congress in 
which he defeated Thomas Randolph, 
a very able and strong pro- slavery 
man, did more than any other two 
men to make Indiana a free State. 

These two events, following fast 
upon the heels of each other, about 
destroyed the prestige of the slavery 
party, and rendered it harmless for 
the future. 

Some effort was made in the Con- 
stitutional Convention to engraft with- 
in it a provision to preserve pre-exist- 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



29 



ing rights in slave property, but noth- 
ing further. 

Clark county was represented in 
that convention by Jonathan Jen- 
nings, who was made its president and 
afterwards the hist governor of the 
new State; James Scott, who was 
afterwards made one of the Judges 
of the Supreme Court, Thomas Carr, 
John K. Graham and James Lem- 
mon. 

The convention convened at the old 
capitol at Corydon, Harrison county, 
Juue 10th, 1816, and at the end of 
nineteen days' labor, having completed 
their work, adjourned. 

Thus a constitution for our State 
was made, in which Clark county had 
much to do, forever forbidding within 
its borders slavery. 

It was full and complete within 
itself, just as it came from the hands 
of the convention. 

It was not to be submitted to a 
vote of the people for appi oval ; it- 
was to stand as the convention had 
made it. 

CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE. 

The history of Clark county would 
be incomplete without including with- 
in it the history of Jefferson ville. 

It is the commercial center of Clark 
county as well as its center of popu- 
lation. 

Clark county is a grand old county 
with its reminiscences of Indian con- 
flict and Jeffersonville crowns it in its 
completeness. 

The city of Jeffersonville is located 



on the north bank of the Ohio river 
at the head of the Falls, in the very 
gap through which the great stream 
of commerce between the North and 
South continuously flows. It is hand- 
somely laid oat with broad streets, 
crossing each other at right angles. 
Since its foundation which was laid in 
1802, it has had a varied history. 

The present plan of Jeffersonville 
is nothing like the original, which was 
no\ el, not to say, eccentric. 

It is stated as a historical fact that 
the plan upon which it was originally 
laid out was devised by President 
Thomas Jefferson, from whom the 
place took its name. 

It was designed in squares or blocks, 
like a checker 1 >oard ; each alternate 
square was public ground, the streets 
passing diagonally through these 
public squares and crossing each other 
in the center. 

For a city whose inhabitants were 
wealthy and had no need, wish or 
desire for trade or business, this plan 
might suit, but not so to the kind of 
people who settled in Jeffersonville. 

They wanted streets for business 
and not for elegant leisure. 

The original plan did not long sur- 
vive. 

It was remodeled: the plan was re- 
constructed by authority of a legis- 
lative act in 1817, and the owners of 
lots were assigned other lots in the 
place of those that were held under 
the original plat as near identical as 
possible. 

The old city as hrst laid out <>c 



30 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



cupied but a small part of what it now 
covers. 

The ground upon which it stands 
was owned by Isaac Bowman, a Vir- 
ginian, and was tract number one of 
the Clark Grant. 

He sold one hundred and fifty acres 
of his five hundred acre tract, on the 
lower part adjoining the thousand 
acre tract granted to Clarksville, and on 
the 23d day of June 1802, made a 
deed to Marston Green Clark, Wil- 
liam Goodwin, Richard Pile, Davis 
Floyd and Samuel Gvvathney, as trus- 
tees to lay off a town and sell lots, 
and apply the moneys realized by 
such sales to establishing ferries and in 
improving the facilities of the new 
town generally. 

Marston G. Clark, said to have been 
a distant relative of General George 
Rogers Clark, was a Virginian, and 
was one of the first judges of the Court 
of Quarter Sessions of Clark county. 

He removed to a farm on the waters 
of Blue river in the southern part of 
Washington county and resided there 
at the time the State was admitted 
into the Union. 

He afterward removed to Salem 
and kept a tavern. 

He represented Washington county 
in the State Legislature several times, 
and was appointed Indian Agent un- 
der General Jackson's administration, 
and died on his farm a mile from 
Salem toward the end of the thirties. 
The reader is familiar with the his- 
tory of the other members of this 
commission. 



Several additions have been made 
to the town of Jefferson ville since its 
original construction. 

Without entering into details, the 
whole of Grant tract number one, 
containing five hundred and forty 
acres, and sixty-one acres out of num- 
ber two are now included within the 
limits of the city of Jeffersonville. 

These additions were respectively 
made in 1836, 1839, 1841 and 1848. 

As has already been stated, the 
county seat was originally located at 
a village, now defunct, known then as 
Springville. 

It remained there but a short time, 
when in 1802, it was removed from 
that village to Jeffersonville, and on 
August 14, 1802, a special session of 
the Court of General Quarter Sessions 
of the Peace was held in Jeffersonville. 

The most important business tran- 
sacted at that session of the Court was 
the letting of a contract to William 
Goodwin to build a county jail. 

At its session January 5, 1803, a 
contract was awarded to William 
Akins to build a jailer's residence ad- 
joining the jail on the north. 

Jeffersonville remained the county 
seat of Clark county until 1811, when, 
by an act of the Legislature it was re- 
moved to the towu of Charlestown, 
then a village in the woods, where 
it remained, not always undisturbed 
in its security however, until 1878. 

Jeffersonville never was satisfied 
with the manner in which it was cov- 
ertly, as it was claimed, taken away 
from it. 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



31 



There had been no question or con- 
troversy upon the county seat question 
in the election of representatives and 
they acted wholly upon their own per- 
sonal feelings and wishes in the mat- 
ter. 

The people of Jeffersonville abided 
their time to take back the county seat 
and get their revenge at the same 
time. 

In 1838 the county seat removal 
question was raised, and both sides to 
the question prepared for a pitched 
1 »attle. 

A senator and two representatives 
to the Legislature were to be elected. 

The candidates were chosen on that 
issue. 

The anti-removal candidates put in 
nomination were for senator, Benjamin 
Ferguson, and for the lower house, Col. 
John S. Simonson and Thomas J. 
Henly. 

Those in favor of removal put for- 
ward were, for senator, William G. 
Armstrong; for representatives, Dr. 
Nathaniel Field and Major Henry 
Hurst. 

This was a noted contest in the po- 
litical history of Clark countj . 

They were all men of ability and of 
great personal popularity. 

The canvass was hot and the contest, 
as it always is on questions of county 
seat removals, was bitter. 

The removalists, the Jeffersonville 
party, elected their candidate-,. 

But the victory was barren of fruits ; 
the Legislature refusing to the people 
of Clark county their wishes ,.n that 



subject, and Charlestown still retained 
her hold upon the county seat. 

But the strength of the removal 
feeling had been tested and it showed 
that a majority of the people were in 
favor of it. 

They were defeated but not dis- 
couraged. 

After another lapse of forty years 
the fight was renewed. 

Oue generation had passed away 
and another had come upon the stage. 

The sons were as ready for the con- 
test as were their fathers before them. 

Jeffersonville township, including 
the city of Jeffersonville, now had 
nearly one-half of the whole popula- 
tion of Clark county. 

It was right, it was just, that the 
majority of the people should rule in 
such questions of public accommoda- 
tion, was contended by the people of 
the southwest end of the county. 

So about the first of January, 1876, 
the city _ council of Jeffersonville, 
headed by its then recently elected 
Mayor, Hon. Luther F. Warder, deter- 
mined to make another effort to regain 
the county seat. 

Everything was duly considered; 
every arrangement was deliberately 
made and the movement fully inaugur- 
ated under the general law regulating 
county seat rerrn ivals. 

The ground was donated for the 
site <>f the court house; thirty thou- 
sand dollars were voted and raised and 
deposited with the county Treasurer 
as a donation to the county to build a 
court house in case of a removal to 



32 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



Jeft'ersonville, and canvassers were 
sent out to procure signatures to the 
removal petitions. 

The people of Charlestown met the 
movement at the threshold. 

They fought it with vigor and de- 
termination. 

The people in the upper end of the 
county joined them in the fight. 

The contest ran into bitter, per- 
sonal hostility between the two sec- 
tions of the county. 

Animosities were engendered that 
perhaps, never will be healed. 

Political affinities were destroyed 
and the removal question dominated 
every other and all other questions of 
public interest. 

The board of county commissioners 
met at the Charlestown court house 
on the first Monday in March, 1876. 
The petitions for removal, containing 
a clear majority of all the voters in the 
county, were presented. 

Every effort Avas made .to .defeat 
them. 

It was charged that a large portion 
of the signatures were fictitious. 

The anti-removalists Avere met at 
every point. 

The case was pressed through the 
Commissioner's Court. 

They appealed to the Circuit Court. 

A c ange of venue Avas taken to 
Floyd county. 

'1 hen a special Judge was agreed 
upon and Judge Perkins, of Indianap- 
olis, Avas sent to try the case. 

x\t length the anti-removalists had 



reached the end and Avere compelled 
to submit to the ineA'itable. 

On the - - of October, 1878, the 
county records Avere removed to the 
court house which had already been 
built in Jeft'ersonville, and it again 
after a lapse of sixty-seven years be- 
came re-established as the county seat 
of Clark county. 

It is not probable that the disturb- 
ing question of county seat removal 
will ever again, or at least not during 
the present generation, agitate and 
divide the people of Clark county. 

An important event in the early 
history of Jeft'ersonville was the pro- 
ject inaugurated in 1818 to build a 
canal around the Ohio Falls on the 
Indiana side of the m r er. 

The means Avere to be furnished by 
a lottery and the plan was to make 
the Avaters of Cane Run do the Avork 
by digging a ditch and starting them 
along it, and they would wash out 
the dirt and open a channel sufficiently 
Avide and deep for a canal. 

The ditch was dug and the waters 
of Cane Run forced into it by a dam, 
but they would not Avash worth a 
cent and the project fell through, and 
no canal on the Jeft'ersonville side of 
the river is yet built. 

During the Avar, on account of the pe- 
culiar 1( tcation and the facilities which 
it afforded for transportation as a dis- 
tributing depot of military supplies, 
Jeft'ersonville Avas made a depot of 
military and quarter-master's supplies. 

After the close of the war, it still 
continued as such; and millions of dol- 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



33 



lars worth of supplies were kept in 
some temporary buildings near How- 
ard's ship yard. 

Id the meantime, the question of a 
permanent location of a quarter-mas- 
ter's depot of supplies in the city of 
Jeffersonville was discussed between 
the city officials and the Quarter-mas- 
ter General at Washington. 

The outcome of it was that in 
January, 1870, under the administra- 
tion of General Levi Sparks as Mayor 
of the city of Jeffersonville, the city 
purchased the ground at a cost of 
$11,00!) and donated it to the United 
States for the purpose of erecting a 
permanent depot. 

The building was completed in 
1*74, where millions of dollars worth 
of government supplies are stored for 
general distribution ail over the 
United States, and where thousands 
of dollars worth of army clothing are 
manufactured by the sewing women 
of Jeffersonville and New Albany 
every year. 

The growth of Jeffersonville has 
been slow but gradual and substantial. 
Every year has added something to 
its population and to its wealth. 
Public improvements have kept even 
pace with its growth. It has one 
of the best improved wharves of any 
city upon the Ohio river, and has 
more miles of paved streets than 
any other city of its size in the State. 

It has recently completed a system 
of water works which will add greatly 
to the comfort, cleanliness and sanita- 
tion of our people and will ffford 



complete fire protection to every 
householder in the city. 

The population of Jeffersonville is 
now estimated at 13,000 and is grow- 
ing every day. Many new residences 
have been built during the last year, 
some of them very elegant and would 
do honor to any city. Its streets are 
well built up with substantial build- 
ings and present something worthy of 
notice in the way of ornamental archi- 
tecture. Many neat cottages which 
give comfortable homes to its laborers 
and mechanics, beautify its streets and 
give the city a picturesque and rural 
appearance. 

The city of Jeffersonville is well 
located for a manufacturing 1 center, 
and large interests are now in active 
operation. Our chief manufactures 
are railway cars, steamboats and 
machinery of various kinds. The 
Ohio Falls Carworks are the second 
largest establishment of the kind in 
the United States and have a capacity 
of working two thousand men per 
day. These works are most complete 
in all their details, and give almost 
constant employment to from 1,500 to 
2,000 hands daily. 

The ship yard here stands pre-emi- 
nent with all river men, and more . 
boats are built here than at any other 
point upon the Ohio or any other river 
between Pittsburg and New Orlean-, 
and they rank among the finest aud 
best steamers that navigate the west- 
ern waters. 

Steamboat building has been a 



34 



HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY. 



prominent business in Jefferson ville 
from its earliest history. 

The high river bank, the deep water 
aud the immense forests of the very 
best timber in the country near by, all 
afforded facilities for boat building 
that made it profitable to the builders. 

Besides these are large flouring 
mills, huge manufacturing interests 
connected with the State Prison 
South, which is located here ; two 
foundries doing a large business, 
especially that of Sweeney & Bros, 
extensive coopering establishment. 

The manufacture of hydraulic ce- 
ment, in the vicinity of Jeffersonville, 
has become a business of great mag- 
nitude. 

There are five companies in active 
operation, with an aggregate capacity 
of 120 car-loads, or 8,000 to 10,000 
barrels per day. These mills afford 
employment for over 2,500 men per 
day, employed in the quarries in get- 
ting out the stone and transporting it 
to the mills, manufacturing and hand- 
ling, in delivering it to the railroads 
for shipment. The supply of the 
material is practically inexhaustible. 

As a location for manufacturing 
plants, Jeffersonville could not well be 
improved. The facilities for trans- 
portation of the raw materialto or 
the finished article from. here, cannot 
be surpassed anywhere. With steam- 
boat transportation on the Ohio river, 
which lasts the year around, we have 
railroad transportation in every di- 
rection, railroads radiating from Jeffer- 
sonville on the north bank and from 



Louisville on the south bank of the 
beautiful Ohio, like the spokes of a 
wagon wheel from its hub. With 
such facilities for transportation it will 
readily be inferred that raw material 
for manufactures, whether of wood or 
iron or textiles, can be had as cheap 
here as at any other point in the West 
or Southwest, and this is the great de- 
sideratum in manufacturing centers. 

Beside the excellent facilities now 
afforded the citizens for crossing over 
to Louisville every fifteen minutes by 
the elegant steamers of the Louisville 
and Jeffersonville Ferry Company, 
they will in all probability, at an 
early day, have abridge spanning the 
river from Jeffersonville to Louisville 
with street cars running every few 
minutes between the two cities. 
These are some of the promises which 
Jeffersonville holds out to those seek- 
ing a location for business investments. 
They at least are worth considering 
by all who are seeking locations. 
But as it has been wisely said that 
man shall not live by bread alone, and 
men, in seeking a location for business, 
also seek for a home, where the highest 
and purest social relations can be 
established, with religious influences 
around them and where the best edu- 
cational facilities for their children 
can be had. All these can be had in 
Jeffersonville. Beside their churches 
of all denominations, the people boast 
and with good reason they think, that 
they have a good system of schools,, 
exceeded by no others in the State. 



Crawford County. 



(By J> t o. H. Weathers.) 



CRAWFORD County is oue of the 
smallest counties in the sisterhood. 
Its people have never been very great, 
"have never risen high to fall," but 
they have been proverbially loyal and 
brave. From her borders have gone 
forth statesmen pure and polished, 
soldiers heroic and brave. In the last 
twelve months she has been given 
an unenviable notoriety by the exag- 
gerated newspaper reports of what is 
known as "White Caps.' 1 True, as 
all counties have, she had some law- 
less men who through their unusual 
departure from the ordinary path of 
crime attracted some attention. But 
let us here remark that it was only 
the very few who even knew of the or- 
ganization, the vast majority condemn- 
ed the course in the severest terms, 
and glad they are that the last gad 
has been laid aside and that the of- 
fended law is dealing with the out- 
laws as they deserve. "White Cap- 
pery" is dead in Crawford county and 
may her fair name never again lie 
Smirched by anything so damning. 

Crawford county lies on the Ohio 
river nearly midway from east to west 
where the "La Belle Riviere" makes 



that grand sweeping circle called 
Horse Shoe Bend. It has a river 
border of twenty-four miles; Harrison 
county on the east, Washington and 
Orange counties on the north, Dubois 
and Perry counties on the west. Bis; 
Blue river forms the eastern boundary 
except for a short distance. The Gen- 
eral Assembly on Feb. 10th, 1831, es- 
tablished the permanent boundary of 
the county as follows : "That all the 
district of country included within the 
following boundaries shall form and 
constitute the county of Crawford, 
to-wit: Beginning on the Ohio river 
at the mouth of Big Blue river, thence 
up the same with the meanders there- 
of until it strikes the line dividing 
sections twenty-six and twenty-seven, 
in the township three south and range 
two east, thence north with said sec- 
tional line until it strikes Big Blue 
river, with the meanders thereof until 
it strikes the line of Harrison and 
Washington counties: thence west 
with said line to the corner of Wash- 
ington county ; thence south to the 
easl and west sectional line dividing 
sections twenty-nine and thirty-two in 
township one south of range two east: 



3G 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



thence west with said sectional line to 
the line dividing range two and three 
west ; thence south with said range 
line nine miles to an east and west 
line, four miles north of the line divid- 
ing townships three and four south ; 
thence east six miles ; thence south 
four miles ; thence east six miles l to 
the meridian line ; thence south "with 
the meridian line to the Ohio river ; 
thence up the same with the meanders 
thereof to the mouth or Big Blue 
river, the place of beginning." The 
superficial area of the county is three 
hundred and four square miles, com- 
prising one hundred and ninety-four 
thousand five hundred and sixty acres. 
Population in 1860 was eight thou- 
sand two hundred and twenty-six ; in 
1S70, nine thousand eight hundred 
and fifty-one ; in 1880, twelve thou- 
sand three hundred and fifty-six ; in 
1881) (estimated) fifteen thousand one 
hundred and uinety. 

The surface of the county is broken 
and hilly. The soil in the river and 
creek bottoms is very fertile, while that 
on the hills is thinner, more adapted 
to pasturage and raising of fruit. The 
eastern half of the county is situated 
in the limestone belt with red clay 
subsoil, making excellent wheat laud. 
Crawford county was originally one 
of the best timbered counties in 
the State. Heavy forests of walnut, 
poplar, ash, hickory, oak and beech 
stm id thick upon the ground. Nearly 
all of the walnut and poplar has been 
manufactured, but the oak timber is 
still plentiful and is a source of con- 



siderable revenue to the people. There 
are still many fine groves of sugar and 
maple trees from which large quan- 
tities of maple sugar are manufactured. 
The bluffs of the Ohio river are gener- 
ally steep or precipitous, rising three 
hundred to five hundred feet above 
the bottom lands. The rocky expos- 
ures in this county belong to the car- 
boniferous age and comprise the lower 
or conglomerate member of the coal 
measures and the Chester and St. 
Louis groups of the sub-carboniferous 
period. Borings and deep wells cut 
through the Keokuk and Knobstone 
groups and have pierced the black 
slate or upper member of the Devon- 
ian formation. The recent ffeolosv 
shows the energetic erosive denuding 
agencies at work since the surface was 
first elevated as a great, nearly level 
plain, above the surface of the Paleo- 
zoic sea. A little north of the center 
and especially in the vicinity and east 
of Mount Prospect, and thence in the * 
direction of Pilot Knob theKaskaskia 
is the only limestone present; the 
other limerocks and the massive ledges 
of sandstone are replaced with soft 
mud shales. The sandstone division 
is well developed in the outcrop on 
the river bluff west of Leavenworth at 
Indian Hollow. Many of the strata 
are heavy bedded or massive. It is 
an excellent building stone and fresh 
from the quarry it works soft, hardens 
on exposure and may by skilful Avork- 
men be broken or split in cubes or 
blocks of any shape and any desired 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



37 



size. It is superior grit stone and 
should be utilized. 

A short distance north of the vil- 
lage of Mifflin is a boldly escarped 
outcrop of conglomerate sandstone 
projecting far enough to form a wide 
rock house cave which from the ashes, 
flint and stone implements found 
within has been used as a shelter by 
Indians. This Rock House is three 
hundred feet long and averages fifteen 
feet deep. The Indians' use of this 
house is indicated by the great num- 
ber of Hint chips, broken knives, scra- 
pers, etc. Pilot Knob, which is situ- 
ated northeast of the center of the 
county, was an island in the ancient 
lake, in the bed or on the side of 
which the Loess was deposited. The 
animal and vegetable remains found 
upon it indicate a tropical tempera- 
ture. The Knob from its isolated and 
elevated position affords a highly in- 
teresting view from its summit. The 
Muldraugh hills of Kentucky are seen 
like cones piercing the sky twenty- 
eight miles distant. There are out- 
croppings of coal at Wickliffe, Eng- 
lish, Magnolia and other places, with 
seams from four to ten inches thick. 
It is not found in sufficient quantities 
to pay for working it. There are tine 
indications of lead in the county. 
West of Alton about one mile there 
are large deposits of lead. It is told 
by the early settlers that the Indians 
visited this region for years after they 
were driven west, for the purpose of 
procuring lead. R. H. Willett and 
Jno. II. Weathers, the present pro- 



prietors of the land, will in a short time 
have the vein opened and proceed to 
work it, if found in paying quantities. 
Evidences of silver have been found 
in the county, and in 1888 a large 
number of mining leases were taken by 
. companies for the purpose of smelt- 
ing silver ore. Chemists of national 
reputation have assayed specimens 
sent from this county with the most 
favorable results. Lime is made from 
the native limestone in abundance. 
Vast numbers of kilns are burned 
each year. All kinds of kilns of an- 
cient and modern pattern are found 
in the county. Crawford county lies 
in the natural gas belt of Indiana, 
(las indications are found in many 
places. Wells have been bored in 
various sections for salt and petroleum, 
and during the boring of each, gas in 
small quantities has been found. At 
Benham's salt well it was struck 
a distance of one hundred and 
thirty-five feet. A vast number of 
farms have been leased to natural 
Lias companies. Among those inter- 
ested in these ventures are J. B. Speed, 
Esq., of Louisville, Ky., and Win. 
Everdon, a prominent merchant of 
Leavenworth. Salt was formerly made 
at the Ott and Benham wells. The 
brine was rich, producing twenty bar- 
rels of salt per day, and the salt was 
pure, but not in sufficient quantity to 
defray expense of manufacturing. 
Boring to a greater depth will not in- 
crease the quantity of brine, but prob- 
ably reduce the strength by dilution 
and decomposition. Petroleum has 



38 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



been found on the surface at springs, 
and seeps in small quantities at more 
than twenty localities. During the 
oil excitement from 1864 to 1868 ten 
wells were bored in this county, and 
almost every one yielded "a show of 
oil," but in no case could a yield of 
more than a pint a day from either 
well be obtained. 

The county is drained by the Ohio 
river, together with its two principal 
tributaries in this section, viz : Big- 
Blue river aud Little Blue river. Bis 
Blue river forms almost the entire 
eastern boundary and drains that part 
of the county. Its principal tributa- 
ries are Whiskey Run, Dry Bun and 
Slick Run. Its main tributary is 
Whiskey Run which rises in the west- 
ern .part of Liberty township, flows 
almost directly east past Marengo* 
where it is joined by Brandywine and 
a few miles further on by Cider Fork 
and thence into Big Blue about one 
mile north of Milltown. Little Blue 
river drains the larger part of the 
county running entirely through the 
county from north to south. Its prin- 
cipal feeders are Otter Fork, West 
Fork, Camp Fork, Stinking Fork, 
Clear Creek, Turkey Fork and Mill 
Creek. 

The Patoka and Anderson rivers 
have their rise iu the north-south 
ridge of conglomerate table lands, with 
drainage to the west and empty their 
waters into the Wabash and Ohio 
rivers. Each of these streams have 
their beds in narrow canon like valleys 
with steep precipitous bluffs from one 



hundred to four hundred feet. The 
water supply is largely in excess of 
local necessities and many valuable 
sites are unoccupied, and those on Big 
Blue river are worthy of examination 
by millers aud manufacturers. The 
river is fed by cave springs, hence 
the summer stream is reliable and the 
pure water is admirably adapted to 
the manufacture of white paper aud 
chemical products. The river and 
creek bottoms are very fertile but the 
hillsides and uplands suffer much from 
washing especially by spring freshets. 
These streams are all full of fish aud 
those who delight in "casting the line" 
for the game fish, find sport along their 
banks. Pike, perch, bass, eat, salmon 
and sun-fish are among the more 
numerous classes. 

In one thing at least, Crawford 
county excels all her sisters in the 
State, and that is in the number, size 
and beauty of her underground cham- 
bers. Rough, rugged and jagged upon 
her surface, it seems that nature has 
doubly repaid her in the grandeur of 
her caves. Under almost the entire 
county there are numberless caverns of 
unrivalled extent and beauty. The 
eastern part of the county lies in the 
sub-carboniferous limestone belt, which 
belt extends across the Ohio river and 
down through Kentucky, and it is in 
this same belt we find the celebrated 
Mammoth Cave of that State. A 
short description of the more noted, 
will not we trust be amiss. 

In the northern part of the county 
about one mile from Marengo, is a 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



39 



small cave that lias only been explored 
a short distance. It is called Indian's 
cave. In it have been found anuml >er 
of skeletons of Indians or Mound 
Builders. On account of some pecu- 
liarity of ilif atmosphere the bones do 
not seem to have decayed They 
appear to have been coated over with 
something like the balm of the ancient 
Egyptians which defies the destroying 
hand of Time. No doubt in this cave, 
situated upon a high hill, might have 
been a burying place of some of the 
tribes of the aborigines. This cave is 
locally noted on account of a tradition. 
It is said that about fifty years ago an 
old Indian returned to the neighbor- 

1 d of this cave and after making 

some search for marks upon trees and 
stones, took from them the direction 
to this cave. What he did there tra- 
dition sayeth not, lint he informed 
some men who liyed near and who 
were kind to him that there was a 
large amount of treasure secreted near 
this cave and that they should be 
guided to it by certain rocks, notable 
among which was a triangular shaped 
rock in which he said was cut a cres- 
cent. After he had none, considerable 
search was made and strange to say 
the stone with the crescent cut into it 
was found, but the other links of the 
direction have been lost and the 
treasure is still undiscovered. 

Miller's Cave lies about two and 
one-half miles from Milltown. It is in 
the side of a high bluff overhanging 
Whiskey Run Creek. It has never 
been explored to any great extent. 



It has some large rooms and pretty 
formations. The cave is the home of 
a number of red foxes that infest that 
neighborhood and to which they fly 
for refuge when pursued. Salt-petre 
Cave is situated about half a mile 
from the celebrated Wyandotte Cave, 
and takes its name from the fact that 
in the early times salt-petre was 
manufactured by the settlers. One 
of the lixiviating troughs is stiil to be 
seen in the cave. It has one room 
which is of gigantic size and reaches 
upward into an immense "steplike " 
dome. But the cave that is most 
wonderful, the one that rivals the 
Mammoth in the size of its rooms, 
that excels the Grotto of Antipharos 
in the beauty of its scenery ; that is 
entitled to take its place among Fin- 
galls and the other celebrated caverns 
of the earth, is Wyandotte. This cave 
takes its name from the tribe of In- 
dians that formerly roamed through 
the surrounding forests or crouched 
in stealth along the quiet valleys. In 
the chambers of this beautiful under- 
ground palace were held the wild 
dances of war and through its halls 
resounded the fierce eloquence of 
"Big Foot' 1 inciting his people to 
valor. The Wyandottes are gone, but 
they have given their name to this 
cave that will be yet in the youth of 
its discovery when their last bow-string 
is snapped. No written description 
can convey an adequate idea of the 
grandeur, o-loom, and beauty of the 
cave. The visitor wanders on mile 
after mile through superb passages 



40 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



quarried out of solid rock by the 
mighty forces of nature into magnifi- 
cent chambers, whose lofty ceilings 
are veiled in darkness; along rocky 
walls whose rugged faces are wrought 
by the subtle chemistry of nature into 
forms of rarest beaut)'. One knows 
not which to admire must, the delicate 
tracery of snowy gypsum upon the 
walls, or the mighty power that has 
cleft asunder great hills of solid rock 
and lightly tossed the huge fragments 
into fantastic heaps. Whoever visits 
the Wyandotte Cave let him go rever- 
ently, for the Master's hand has been 
at work there. Wyandotte is said to 
be far richer in stalactite ornamen- 
tations than any other. The stalactites 
are of the fine grained translucent kind 
often called alabaster which much re- 
sembles the Mexican onyx. For un- 
told ages the Anger of Time has been 
at work to form its glories and beauties. 
Wyandotte Cave is situated half a mile 
from Big Blue river, eight miles from 
Milltown and five miles from Leaven- 
worth. The entrance is almost at the 
summit of a high hill one hundred 
and fifty feet above the bed of Blue 
river. It is two hundred and seventy 
feet above low water mark of the Ohio 
river and five hundred and seventy 
three feet above the level < if the ocean. 
From the top of the ridge to the river 
we have the following section. Cov- 
ered slope, 20 ft. Buff sandstone with 
stems of fossil plants, SO ft. Arch- 
imides limestone, 5 ft. Shale and 
brown limestone, 35 ft. Gray lime- 
stone, 20 ft. Limestone fine grained 



oolitic 50 ft. Gray cherty, 230 ft. 
Bed of Blue river, 230 ft. 

The geological position of the Wy- 
andotte Cave is precisely similar to 
that of the Mammoth Cave in Ken- 
tucky. It is in the same sub-carbon- 
iferous strata which is so favorable to 
the formation of caverns, sink holes 
and basin-shaped pits. It lies above 
the valleys and in its course conforms 
to the general direction of the ridges, 
that is, north-east and south-west. 
The length of the Cave including all 
the avenues is twenty-three miles, 
and is divided into the New and Old 
Cave. It was formerly known as the 
old Indiana Salt-petre Cave. One 
Dr. Adams, first pre-empted the land 
and during the war with England, 
1812 to 1815, he manufactured salt- 
petre, after which time he relin- 
quished his claim. One of the old 
salt-petre kettles is yet on the farm, 
a curious relic of the metallurgic art 
of a century ago. Up to 1850 the 
cave was not much visited, and in 
fact it w T as the subject of legislative 
enactment, as we find that the Legis- 
lature enacted a law in 1843 compel- 
ling the owner to fence up the en- 
trance and prevent cattle from lick- 
ing the epsom salts. But in that year 
some gentlemen discovered a small 
opening at the end of "Bandit's Hall" 
which when enlarged led through 
"Fat Man's Misery" to the extensive 
New Cave. This aperture might 
have been passed for a thousand 
3 r ears and not have been noticed. 
The discoverers were surprised to 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



41 



find that this part of the cave had 
been occupied, including the spacious 
areas of "Bat's Hall," "Sandy Plain," 
and Rothrock Cathedral. Hundreds 
of poles, six to twelve feet long and 
from one to two and a half inches in 
diameter, were found scattered in all 
parts, probably used for carrying 
burdens of food or skins, or for ag- 
gressive or defensive purposes. Sig- 
nificant, too, of the Stone Age, the 
poles were of such soft brittle wood 
as sassafras, poplar and paw-paw, as 
might be readily obtained by break- 
ing, many having been twisted off at 
the "round, others torn from the 
earth with part of roots attached, 
while a few had been cut with some 
dull implement, indicating the use of 
stone axes and flint knives. It was 
not a house of darkness ; the charred 
remains of torches made of shell -bark 
hickory, tell of the mode of illumina- 
tion. The ceilings are still black and 
sooty from the smoke of flambeaux 
and fires for cooking. Beyond the 
Augur Hole were found by the ex- 
plorers the tracks of one large man, 
two smaller men or women and three 
children. The imprints of the moc- 
casined feet were in the plastic clay 
on the floor. These tracks or Indian 
foot-prints were there in good con- 
dition. They appeared to have been 
on an exploring tour, as they pro- 
ceeded close to the north side of the 
route and examined every crevice, re- 
turning on the south side. The lapse 
of time since these tracks were made 
may be approximately inferred from 



the fact that there being no other 
known entrance, they must have 
gone in the "Augur Hole" which, to 
have admitted a full grown man of 
average dimensions, must have had 
an area of twelve by eighteen inches. 
White men found this closed to a 
space of ten by five inches ; now the 
deposit made by water, holding lime 
in solution, on the same spot since 
the opening in 1850, a period of twen- 
ty-eight years, is a mere film, not 
one hundredth of an inch in thick- 
ness, so that more than one thousand 
years must have elapsed since these 
tracks were made. We may very 
properly infer from this data and 
from the finding of stone hammers 
and grinding pestles there, that what 
is now known as the "NeAv Cave" was 
occupied or at least visited by men 
of the Stone Age. The atmosphere 
of the cave is remarkably pure and 
exhilarating and persons can undergo 
an unusual amount of physical exer- 
tion. 

The temperature is uniform through- 
out the year, being about fifty-six de- 
grees winter and summer. The cave 
is the home of numbers of animals, in- 
sects and fishes. In it you will find 
skeletons of foxes, rabbits, turtles, rac- 
coons and other surface abiding animals 
that go into the cave for refuge 
throughout the day and when their 
hour of demise draws near they creep 
into its sombre solitudes to die. In 
some of the outer halls vast numbers 
of bats congregate in the winter sea- 
son, where thev hano; in immense 



42 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



bunches from the roof. There are also 
blind craw-fish and blind beetles and 
eyeless fishes found in the pools. 
There are a vast number of rooms all 
celebrated by some peculiarity of 
formation. 

First, Faneuil Hall, which is two 
hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. 
A short distance further we come to 
Columbian Arch, resembling a railway 
tunnel and symmetrical as if it were 
the work of an artisan. This leads to 
Washington Avenue, at the end of 
which stands the celebrated statue 
called Wyandotte Chief, waiting, seem- 
ingly, to gloat over the death of some 
daring pale face. Next is " Bandit 
Hall " at the end of which is the junc- 
tion of the old and new caves. Turn- 
ing to the right, only a few yards, is 
" Fat Man's Misery, 1 ' a narrow passage 
twenty feet in length which leads to 
" Bats' Lodge." A short distance on 
we come to "Rugged Mountain," an 
elevation of forty feet, on the summit 
of which is the Rotunda, a circular 
room over one hundred feet in diam. 
eter. In this room, epsom salts, spark- 
ling, pure and white and white gypsum 
is found in abundance. Leaving the 
Rotunda, passing through Hanover 
Chapel, Bassinite Avenue and Coons' 
Council you enter a high room forty 
feet wide and one hundred and twenty 
feet long, with circular walls and 
smooth ceiling, encircled near the top 
by a belt of blue flint six inches thick, 
giving it the appearance of a curiously 
wrought cornice; this is called the 
Dining Room. Taking the left divis- 



ion we go but a short distance to 
" Creeping Avenue," a passage of two 
hundred feet long and twenty feet 
wide, about three feet high, at the end 
of which is " Pillared Palace." This is 
a room five or six feet high, fifty feet 
wide and several hundred feet in 
length, the ceiling of which is a com- 
plete fringe of stalactites, while the 
floor is thickly set with stalagmites 
uniting in many places. They f orm the 
grandest pillars ever seen, transparent 
as crystal and ring like silver bells 
when stricken by a slight blow. 
Thence through Genii Bower, Caliope's 
Bower, Purgatory, Fairy's Grotto, 
General Scott's Reception Room, Hall 
of Representatives, we are led to Mon- 
ument Mountain, one hundred and 
seventy-five feet high, while seventy- 
five feet above it is Wallace's Grand 
Dome of which Rev. Hovey says : 

" This Dome lias hardly a superior 
in the world. Standing on the sum- 
mit of the mountain, we looked up- 
wards, but the top was veiled in dark- 
ness. We cast our glances around us 
and the same unilluminated night lay 
beyond the dim light of our caudles. 
But when we had lighted our fire- 
works, then we could see far above us 
the bending arch of this majestic 
temple, rising two hundred and forty- 
five feet from the base of the moun- 
tain ; while around us extended in 
vast proportions a circular wall one 
thousand feet in circumference. Within 
this rotunda the ancient Pantheon 
might be placed or St. Paul's of Lon- 
don find ample room. At the foot of 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



43 



the mountain is the Augur Hole 
through which we are ushered into 
Lilliputian Hall and beyond which are 
Cerulean Vault, Milxoy's Temple, 
Frost King's Palace and many other 
beautiful rooms which space forbids 
to note. In the northwest branch 
of the old cave we have Pygmy Dome, 
Odd Fellows Hall, Temple of Honor, 
Pillar of the Constitution and many 
other celebrities, but language fails to 
convey anything like a correct idea of 
the grandeur and immensity of its 
rooms. 

It would take a volume to describe 
the whole cave. Those who have vis- 
ited the Mammoth Cave will find this 
one not a whit behind it in interest. It 
is evidently worthy of a visit and of the 
study of all who wish to become 
familiar with the grand and beautiful 
in nature and have their minds led 
through nature up to nature's God. 

Marengo Cave. — On Sunday, Sep- 
tember 9th, 1883, S. M. Stewart, Jr., 
of Marengo, in company with some 
other boys, getting in pursuit of a 
rabbit, it lied to a basin where it en- 
tered a hole. The boys, determined 
that it should not escape them so 
easily, pulled away some loose stones 
that closed the orifice, found that they 
could go into the hole themselves, 
and upon taking out some more de- 
luis saw that they stood in the mouth 
of a cavern. They immediately spread 
the news of their discovery and hun- 
dreds of citizens of the town of 
Marengo and vicinity gathered around 
the entrance and proceeded to explore 



its mysteries. Throughout the entire 
day and the following night, parties; 
pushed into the bowels of the earth. 
The scenery was so grand, the arrange- 
ment so varied and the formation so 
beautiful that they did not tire. Such 
was the discovery of Marengo Cave, 
which is situated about one-fourth of 
a mile from the town from which it 
took its name. Its entrance is perhaps 
sixty feet above the low water mark 
of Whiskey Run Creek, upon the side 
of a hill, and perhaps one-third of the 
distance to the top. It is in the St. 
Louis limestone belt, in the subcar- 
bonif erous strata so common and fav< li- 
able to the formation of wonderful 
caverns. It is perhaps the most beau- 
tiful cave in the United States if not 
in the world. Strange to say, it was 
seventy-two years from the first settle- 
ment of the community until the dis- 
covery of this beautiful underground 
palace. It is one mile north of the 
Louisville & St. Louis Air Line rail- 
road. Mr. Samuel W. Stewart, the 
owner of the land, and the present 
proprietor of the cave, proceeded in a 
few days after its discovery to prepare 
for visitors who came to sec this grand 
panorama of nature's handiwork. He 
widened the entrance, made it more 
pleasant of ingress, placed steps where, 
it would otherwise be difficult of pas- 
sage, arranged walks and placed a com- 
modious building over the entrance. 
The cave proper is but three miles in 
length, which taken with the minor 
avenues is live miles in length. But 
what it lacks in length it supplies in 



a 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



beauty and gorgeousness of display. 
It consists of four principal depart- 
ments ; the main cave and three arms 
or tributaries. The main cave is gen- 
erally dry and of easy access its entire 
length, and while not so bountifully 
furnished as other parts yet it is 
astounding to the credulous. Wash- 
ington Avenue, the most extensive of 
the tributaries, is an entrancingly 
beautiful piece of nature's architec- 
ture. The arrangement being most 
pleasing and attractive. Here the 
beholder can spend hours looking at 
its wonderful works and is then loth 
to pass on. Crystal Palace, another 
of the arms, is everything its name 
implies; the beauty of beauties, the 
wonder of wonders, and the amaze- 
ment of all. The multiferous for- 
mations of every conceivable shape 
and size glitter in the light as if 
studded with innumerable diamonds. 
Here the meditator may ponder and 
ruminate, and yet realize but faintly 
the splendors which surround him. 
The ceiling is everywhere draped and 
festooned in gorgeous splendor. The 
sides are pillared and propped by 
beautiful, clear white stalagmites. 
The floor is an incrustation of semi- 
transparent crystal, giving the whole 
the appearance of the palace royal of 
the mystic gods of bygone ages. 
Here is thought for geologists, here is 
food for the curious and here are hours 
of pastime for the reader in the pages 
of Nature's unwritten history. This 
is truly the grandest combination of 
natural formations, combining beauty, 



picturesqueness and brilliancy, that 
has yet been given to mortal eye. 
There are some twelve other depart- 
ments, each containing varied scenery 
some surpassing in one beauty, some 
in another. Time forbids a more 
minute description. The only way 
that a realization of the grandeur and 
magnificence of this, Nature's picture 
and art gallery, can be obtained, is to 
come and see it. 

Crawford county is so broken that 
its agricultural possibilities are not the 
greatest. But the soil is strong, and in 
the valleys, rich and productive. In the 
early settlement of the county the 
pioneers did not enter their land in the 
bottoms, as they considered them sick- 
ly, full of chills and fever and 
"sloughs." So they usually chose a 
site near some spring on the ridges. 
Thus it was that upland was taken up 
first and cleared and has really been 
under cultivation longer than the low 
lands. They did not then depend so 
much upon the ground for subsistence 
as now. The gun was a more potent 
weapon than the hoe to supply the 
table. Crawford county was the home 
and haunt of vast numbers of the 
larger game, such as elk, bear, panther, 
deer and turkey. The old hunter 
would take his "flint lock" and start 
to one of the "deer licks" and by noon 
would have plenty of the finest meat 
in the world. The soil has suffered 
from unskillful husbandry. When the 
land was first cleared it was cultivated 
in corn year after year, as that was the 
principal product. Another very bad 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



46 



thing has been the cultivating of the 
uplands and hillsides in the small 
grains, <*»n account of which the rains 
have carried much of the soil down the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers. When 
the farmers learn to put their hillsides 
and rolling land in grass ami pay more 
attention to stock raising, then will 
they stop their farms from going down 
to the Delta. Crawford was covered 
with a dense forest of the larger 
growth of timber, while the wild grape, 
wild plum, berries and persimmons 
flourished. The forests have gone but 
the soil remains. There is room for 
improvement in the agriculture of the 
county. The river bottoms, with 
judicious rotation of crops, will prove 
fertile for years to come. The level 
plateau covering the elevated region 
on the eastern side of the county may 
be referred to lacustral origin. It has 
a close, cold soil which, in dry seasons, 
or when well drained, shows great 
strength, producing good crops of 
wheat, hay, etc. This may be greatly 
enlarged and the crops wonderfully 
increased by a judicious system of tile 
and open air drains, and thus enhance 
the value of the farms. The soil in the 
hilly regions of the western part of 
the county is, as a rule, composed of 
fine silicious material, easily exhausted 
and requires careful management. 
Exhaustive crops should be avoided. 
The stalks, chaff and straw should in- 
variably be returned to the soil as 
manure, and a large area devoted to 
fruit and orchard grass for permanent 
pastures and clover. 



Every live years these exhausted 
fields should be treated to a dressing 
of thirty to fifty bushels of lime to the 
acre. Since the introduction of bone 
dtist into the county these lands are 
yielding fine crops. Old fields that 
had been thrown out to the commons 
have been treated to an application of 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
pounds of bone dust to the acre, and 
have produced fifteen to twenty bush- 
els an acre. The greatest benefit to 
the land derived from bone meal is 
that it gives a good set to clover or 
grass. Farmers are learning to sow 
orchard grass and timothy and clover 
with their wheat, drilling it all to- 
gether and are revivifying their dead 
ground. The principal products are 
wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, vegetables 
and grass. Most of the products are 
held for home consumption. The up- 
land soil is best adapted to pasturage 
and hay. Lately much attention has 
been given to improvement in the 
breeding of stock. And we find the 
"Jersey" taking the place of the "scrub" 
on many of the farms. The following 
is reported as average crops by a well 
informed agriculturist: wheat, upland, 
13 bushels per acre; wheat, bottoms, 
23 bushels per acre; Corn, upland, 20 
bushels per acre; corn, bottoms, •">;> 
bushels per acre; onions, 200 to 300 
bushels per acre; potatoes, 150 to 300 
bushels per acre. 

The agricultural report of 1880, 
taken from the census of the United 
States, gave the county 1,615 im- 
proved farms, aggregating 7.~),r>45 acres 



46 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



of improved laud, valued, including 
fences and buildings, at $1,452,902. 
It also shows the value of farming: im- 
plements and machinery to be $59,190; 
value of live stock, $248,683 ; cost of 
building and repairing fences (1879), 
$20,034; cost of fertilizers (1879), 
$6,924; estimated value of all farm 
productions (1879), $295,371. It 
gives the following productions for 
that year: corn, 311,464 bushels; oats, 
64,826 bushels; wheat, 70,040 bush- 
els. Value of orchard products, $17,- 
091; hay, 3,555 tons ; Irish potatoes, 
34,361 bushels; sweet potatoes, 2,934 
bushels; tobacco, 10,920 pounds. We 
may safely say that with the increased 
attention given to agriculture and the 
free use of commercial manures, the 
increase in the above figures in the last 
nine j^ears is nearly if not quite 33 per 
cent above that of 1880. Small fruits 
and the peach are well adapted to the 
hilly uplands and with fair culture a 
failure is rare. Apple orchards are 
numerous, produce well, and with dil- 
igent management are highly remun- 
erative. The estimated average an- 
nual crop of apples is 600,000 barrels. 
The favorite varieties are the Roman 
Beauty, New York Pippin and the 
Wine Sap. The raising of apples is 
receiving increased attention. Wil- 
liam Everdon has the largest 
orchard in the county. N. R. 
Peckinpaugh, of Leavenworth, owns a 
farm in the big bottom below Schooner 
Point and gives it as his experience 
that he has realized more money from 
his orchard of twenty acres planted 



on a rocky hill than from the produc- 
tion of seventy-five acres in the rich 
bottom cultivated in wheat and corn. 
That is the experience of all ; that the 
apple crop is more remunerative. The 
cultivation of the grape has been begun 
in the county. Messrs. J. Sacksteder 
&, Son have a vineyard on the south- 
east hill slope, about three-fourths of a 
mile from Leavenworth, of twenty- 
seven acres. They have been engaged 
in the grape culture for several years 
and have been very successful. They 
manufactured in 1887 12,000 gallons 
of wine, and in 1888, 11,000 gallons of 
wine. Other farmers observing the 
success that have attended them have 
also engaged in the same business. 

It might be proper to suggest to the 
farmers that instead of " comma; " their 
old hillsides, if they would plant them 
a vineyard or engage in the cultivation 
of the strawberry or raspberry, their 
income would be much larger at the 
end of the year. Now that the greater 
portion of the timber is gone, the 
people will be compelled to turn their 
attention to other things for a liveli- 
hood and Ave would suggest stock 
raising, grape culture, raising of small 
fruits, increase of apple orchards and 
more meadows, as a few of the callings 
that with industry and skillful man- 
agement will yield good results. 
There are five hundred forty acre 
tracts in the county that could be 
bought for two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars each, which if put in the cultiva- 
tion of fruit or grass would yield a 
support to as many families. Either 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



47 



the soil is injurious to the burrowing 
grabs, or the sulphurous character of 
the atmosphere derived from sulphur 
springs, gas seeps, and the decompo- 
sition of pyritous sholes, protects fruit 
from many pests, elsewhere so injurious 
both to fruit and the trees. The soil 
seems to be especially favorable to the 
growth of fruit trees. On the farm of 
an old pioneer now ninety-seven years 
of age, may yet be seen apple trees 
planted by him sixty-five years ago. 
They are now two and a half and 
three feet in diameter, thrifty and vig- 
orous. Of the early settlement of 
Crawford county we know but little 
except from tradition. Attracted here 
by the plenteousness of game, settlers 
came quite early in the century. In 
1800, July 4th, Indiana was organized 
as a territory. Crawford county was 
then a part of Clark and Knox coun- 
ties. In 1809, Harrison county was 
organized from parts of Clark and 
Knox counties, and included all of 
Crawford. Nine years later the pres- 
ent county of Crawford was cut off 
from Harrison and organized into a 
separate county. Almost all the early 
settlers came from the Southern states. 
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee 
and Kentucky. The reason that so 
many settlers left their homes in the 
warm balmy South to find new homes 
north of the Ohio river, was that they 
abhorred human slavery. And the 
descendants of these brave pioneers, 
who faced wilderness and savage 
Indians for principle's sake, long years 
afterwards in the dark days of this 



nation's history faced cannon's mouths, 
bayonets and grape and canister that, 
the same unholy institution might 
be swept out of existence and con- 
signed to an ignominious grave. 
Much of the early history of Crawford 
county is in common with Harrison 
county which will be found elsewhere 
in this volume. There were pioneers in 
what is now Crawford county — hunters 
and adventurers were here as early 
as 1804 — among them John Peckin- 
pangh, but none of them settled per- 
manently in that year. In 1806 quite 
a number of families came to southern 
Indiana. One man settled on Cider 
Fork of Whiskey Run Creek in what 
is now Whiskey Run township. This 
was Thomas Stroud. He must, there- 
fore, be accounted the first settler of 
Crawford county having settled in 
March 1806. In the fall of 1806 Mr. 
Stroud was followed by E. E. Morgan, 
William McKee, and William Frakes. 
Morgan and McKee settled in the 
northeastern part, while Frakes settled 
in the northwestern part of the county. 

During 1807 quite a number of 
families were added to the popula- 
tion, among whom were Peter Frakes 
who established himself on Big Blue 
river near the eastern boundary of 
the county and William Van Winkle. 

During the year 1808 the Strond 
neighborhood was increased by a 
number of families, among whom 
weie Jacob and Jonathan Rice, and 
Malachi Monk who settled near Big 
Springs (now Marengo) and John 
Peckinpaugh settled in the bottom 



48 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



below Schooner Point. During these 
years more settlers came than during 
the following years. Jn 1810 came 
Cornelius Hall, Martin H. Tucker and 
Lazarus Stewart. The first settler 
on the present site of Marengo was 
Henry Hallowell, a native of North 
Carolina. Among the early settlers 
not already mentioned whose names 
have not been lost are the following, 
viz : Richard Weathers, Henry Jones, 
Patter Harvey, John Weathers, 
Elisha Tadlock, Thomas Davidson, 
George Bortwesser, James Vanwink- 
le, John Samuels, William Doggs, 
James Brown, Martin Scott, John 
Best, Squire Green, Brice Patrick, 
Martin Holack, John Hooten, Daniel 
Weathers, Wm. Willard, John Poe, 
George Goodson, Edward Pyles, Jo- 
seph Tibbs, William Samuels, Joseph 
Vanwinkle, Abraham Wiseman, Gory 
Jones, Isaac Shields, Noah Ford, John 
Lynch, Jesse Lynch, Thomas Lynch, 
John Wright, Jobn Sturgeon, Wil- 
liam Anderson, James Barker, 
Henry Barker, John Seaton, William 
Babb, Alexander McRae, John Lan- 
diss, Moses Smith, Caleb Temple, 
John Crawford, John Ellis, Nathan- 
iel Hollcroft, Henry Fullenwider. 
Later on, Leavenworths, Conrads, 
Clarks, Pankeys, Johnsons, Capt. 
Posey, General Thorn, etc., etc. We 
might give many other names but 
these are deemed sufficient. These 
came to the county while it wan yet 
a wilderness. Many of their descend- 
ants are reputable citizens of the 
county. Most of the settlers settled 



near good springs, as that seemed 
more important than good land. 
They also usually settled where there 
were maple trees, that they might 
manufacture sugar and molasses from, 
the trees. The earliest settlers were 
molested by the Indians. There was 
considerable horse stealing. There 
is no record of any one having been 
kille 1 by the Indians except in a raid 
after some of them who had stolen 
some horses. Wm. Samuels, who 
was afterward the fb>t clei'k of the 
county, was wounded in the knee. 
For personal safety from the red-skins 
Malachi Monk, Cornelius Hall, Mar- 
tin H. Tucker, Lazarus Stewart, 
Henry Hallowell and a few others, in 
the year 1811 built a block house. 
It was a two-story structure built of 
round logs. The logs were made to 
project at the top of the first story 
to enable persons to shoot down at 
the enemy that would approach from 
the outside, and at the same time be 
protected themselves. In time of 
trouble the families would take refuge 
in this house and at times remain 
there for a week or more. This 
building was erected about one mile 
east of the present site of Marengo. 
The early settlers would go to Jeffer- 
sonville for salt, pay one dollar a 
bushel and carry it home on horse- 
back, making a round trip of seventy- 
five to one hundred miles. At the 
time of the early settlement, large 
game was abundant. Scarcity of 
bacon was the least privation the 
pioneers had to endure. There were 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



49 



no hogs at first, but in a few years 
they became plentiful, running wild 
in the woods. In the fall they would 
get fat on the mast and would be 
slaughtered in vast numbers and 
shipped to Southern markets. 

This was a great branch of indus- 
try in the early days of the county. 
Men followed butchering and shipped 
the pork to the lower counties on the 
Mississippi. The fact of the hogs run- 
ning wild, led to many disputes and 
cpiarrels about their marks. At one 
time there were about a thousand hogs 
driven from Lawrence and Orange 
counties down into Crawford to fatten 
on the mast. People in Crawford 
considered this as an infringement, 
and procuring guns, killed almost all 
of them. They were indicted. The 
witnesses would swear they heard the 
gun and saw the smoke, but could not 
tell who did the firing. There were 
no mills in the very earliest days. 
They ground corn by hand by the use 
of the distaff. The first settlers Avent 
to Gen. Win. Henry Harrison's mill 
which was on Big Blue river. When 
Gen. Harrison left Indiana, this mill 
went into the possession of Mr. "Wil- 
liam Wilson. Soon after, several horse- 
mills were built in different parts of 
the county. One was on Bogard 1 s 
Fork, one on Little Blue River. In 
the year 1818, Seth M. and Zebulon 
Leavenworth erected a saw and grist 
mill at the present site of Milltown, 
run by water. In the few years fol- 
lowing, several water mills were 
erected. One was built near Fre- 



donia in 1819 by one Leggatt. Corn 
was the principal product. Wheat 
was first sown by Natty Straughn, 
who is yet living, in 1823. They 
first threshed the wheat by means of 
the flail, but soon improved this by 
introducing the tramping floor. In 
opening up the farms the neighbors 
in the community would gather to- 
gether and "roll logs" for eighteen to 
twenty-five days. To endure this 
"sport' 1 men had to have muscles like 
bands of steel. 

In the fall of the year they would 
frecpiently meet at the house of some 
one of them and husk corn, after 
which, as a general rule, they would 
stack all of their hats into a pile and 
blindfold one of the number who 
would select at random two from the 
pile, and the owners would be com- 
pelled to engage in a wrestle or foot- 
race. Speaking of the sports of the 
early settlers w e will mention that of 
"Roly Boly," which is played as fol- 
lows : One man would lie down, and 
another at his feet, and then another, 
and so on, until they had seven or 
eight in a bunch ; clinched together 
they would roll down a hill, and the 
first fellow that broke his hold would 
have to treat the crowd to a gallon of 
good 'old corn." On one occasion 
Aniel Wright was rolled against a 
stump by the crowd and had to be 
carried home. The early settlers had 
very meagre facilities for mails. First 
post-offices at Mt. Sterling, Fredonia 
and at Tuckersville. Postage was 25 
cents on a letter. All mail came by 



50 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



the way of Corydon, and afterward by 
the river. After the removal of the 
capitol from Corydon to Indianapolis 
a stage line was established from 
Leavenworth to Indianapolis viaPaoli 
and Bloomington. The contract of the 
post-office department was that who- 
ever carried the mail was to run a 
coach that would carry nine pas- 
sengers. There was also a stage line 
from Leavenworth to New Albany in 
the early settling of the county. There 
are a number of old pioneers Aet living 
in the county. We would be pleased 
to give a sketch of each, but have not 
space further than to mention their 
names. John Landiss, a verv old and 
respected citizen, lives near English, 
and is almost four score and ten. He 
is the father of Wm. Landiss, ex-Com- 
missioner of the county. Mrs. Nancy 
A. Clark, of Leavenworth, is past 
ninety, still vigorous. She is the 
widow of Samuel Clark, once Sheriff 
of the county. John Wright died in 
the winter of 1888, aged 88 years. 

The oldest resident of the county is 
Nathaniel Straughn, of Sterling town- 
ship, who was born March Sth, 1792. 
His father was a revolutionary sol- 
dier. He has a brother who is ninety- 
nine years of age living in Sullivan 
county, Indiana. He came to Craw- 
ford county in 1820. He has lived in 
the same place for sixty-nine years. 
He has five living children, many 
grand-children and great-grand-child- 
ren, and one great-great-grand-child 
living. He gave two boys to the 
nation during her darkest hours and 



both died in the ranks, and yet, while 
he is almost penniless, he draws no 
pension from the government. Mr. 
Straughn was living before all of the 
colonies had ratified the Constitution, 
and who was quite a good sized boy 
before the death of Gen. Washington, 
and is yet active and vigorous. 

Another very noted old man, yet 
living is Robert Sharp. He was born 
in February, 1803, in Wayne county, 
Ky. His father served with Gen. 
Frances Marion during the Revolution. 
Uncle Bob, as he is familiarly called, 
came to this State in 1812, and grew 
up with the State. He was very fond 
of hunting, and many deer, bear and 
panther fell before his old flint lock. 
He can yet tell about dancing on the 
"puncheon floor' 1 (when each fellow 
kept his own puncheon) with the 
" gals " dressed in deer skin dresses. 
He gave three sons to the late war, 
two of whom never returned. He is 
one of the most entertaining conver- 
sationalists in the county; his mind 
is clear and his memory is good. 

There are many others who deserve 
notice; Mrs. Sands and Mrs. Margaret 
Leavenworth, and others. Before 
school houses were built, school was 
taught in private houses. In 1818 
and 1819 the people erected several 
log huts for school and church houses. 
The house had one log cut out of the 
side to admit light. To keep out the 
rain and snow they would fasten 
greased paper over the orifice. Teach- 
ers were scarce. Among the earliest 
teachers were Wm. Johnson, father of 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



51 



Prof. J. M. Johnson, of whom more 
mention is made farther on, Alex. 
Tadlock and Mr. Barmore. Schools 
increased with the age of the State 
until the adoption of the present 
grand system of schools in Indiana. 
The early settlers, while they believed 
in the existence of God, yet they were 
not as arduous for religious matters as 
they might have been. 

The Methodists first organized a 
class at Mt. Sterling where they held 
church in a private house. The first 
" circuit rider " was a man named 
" Hester." The first preaching at 
Fredonia was in 1818. The Baptists 
erected their first church in that place 
in 1824. The United Brethren Church 
was established very early. One of 
its earliest ministers was Rev. J. G. 
Pfrimmer, another Rev. Jacob Antrim 
and later Rev. Henry Bonebrake. The 
church has always occupied a very 
prominent place in religious affairs in 
the county and is still growing. It 
has a membership of 1,250. 

Organization of the county. In the 
session of the General Assembly of 
1817 and 1818 a Board of Commis- 
sioners was appointed to survey and 
lay off another county taken from 
Harrison county. They reported the 
county of Crawford, and it was there- 
upon organized in 1818, two years 
after the admission of Indiana into 
the Union. The officers appointed 
for the county to fill the first terms 
were : Win. Samuels, Clerk and 
Recorder; Daniel Weathers, Sheriff 
and Treasurer; Cornelius Hall and 



John Samuels, County Commissioners. 
The Governor appointed Hon. Davis 
Floyd Presiding Judge, and Henry 
Green and James Glenn, Associate 
Judges. The following is a verbatim 
copy of the early records of the 
county : 

December Term, 1818, 1st day, Dec. 
15th, 1818. This being the day 
appointed for holding the Dec. term 
( )f the Crawford County Circuit Court, 
and accommodations having been 
made at Mt. Sterling for the said 
court, the court met at the court 
house in said town. Present, the Hon. 
Henry Green and James Glenn, Asso- 
ciate Judges. The court appointed 
Ebenezer McDonald Prosecuting At- 
torney for the term, who thereupon 
took the oath of office. The sheriff 
handed into court the following list 
of grand jurors, to- wit : Martin Scott, 
Michael Harvey, Elisha Moore, Rob- 
ert Grimes, Joseph Hawkins, Abra- 
ham Hobbs, Riggs Pennington, Sam- 
uel Morrow, Lewis Wyman, William 
Hart, John Riddle, Moses Penning- 
ton, Lazarus Stewart, Cornelius Hall, 
Gory Jones, John McCarty, James 
Totten and William Anderson. Mar- 
tin Scott was appointed foreman, who 
with the other jurors being sworn, 
retired from the bar to consult of pre- 
sentments and indictments. On motion, 
Reuben Wright Nelson, Henry P. 
Coburn and William Hoggett, Es- 
quires, were admitted as attorneys of 
this court. It may be remarked that 
the court house was an imposing 
structure of one story, made of rough 



52 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



round logs and belonged to Henry 
Barker. At first they had no jail. 
The town of Mt. Sterling consisted of 
one street and only two houses on 
the street. It stood in a forest and 
the frightened deer frequently ran 
down the street. In this solitary place 
gathered the solons to deal out jus- 
tice and here the new county had its 
birth. When the weather was warm 
they would adjourn to the shade of a 
spreading oak to dispense justice. 
The first indictment found by the 
giand jury was against John Tibbs 
and John Scaggs for affray. The 
record of that trial is as follows : 

State of Indiana, 1 

John'Tibbs, \ A ff™y- 
John Scaggs. J 

At this time came John Tibbs, one 
of the defendants, who being arraigned, 
pleaded not guilty and for his trial 
put himself upon the county and the 
prosecuting attorney did the like, 
whereupon come a jury, to-wit : 
James Land, Wm. Hallowell, Alex- 
ander Barnett, Peter McMickle, 
Thomas Strond, Constant Williams, 
Peter Peckinpaugh, Jonathan Rice, 
David Miller, Arthur White, John 
Tallowell and John Lynch, twelve 
good and lawful men, who being 
elected, tried and sworn well and 
truly to try the issue joined, returned 
into court the following verdict, 
to-wit : We, the jury, find the defen- 
dant guilty and fine him -$1.50. It is 
therefore considered that the State of 
Indiana recover of the said defendant 



$1.50 with costs, and that he stand 
committed until fine and costs be 
paid. 

This was the first trial held in the 
county. At the second term of the 
Circuit Court we find the following 
entry, viz : 

At a Circuit Court began and held 
at the court house in the town of 
Mount Sterling, county of Crawford, 
Monday, the 22nd day of February, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and nineteen. Present, 
the Hon. Davis Floyd, President of 
the 2nd Judicial Circuit. 



Henry Green, . . , T , 
T J f^, - Associate Jud_> 

James Glenn, 



es. 



ror 



State of Indiana, \ Indici/nient f c 

James McCullum. j Larcen ^ 

This day, came as well the prosecu- 
ting attorney, as the said James 
McCullum in his proper person, and 
for plea says he is not guilty in man- 
ner and form as in the indictment is 
charged against him ; for his trial 
puts himself upon the county and 
the prosecuting attorney doth the 
like, whereupon came a jury, to-wit : 
John Peckinpaugh, Robert Sands, 
Abraham Wiseman, Thomas Parr, 
William Matthews, William Riley, 
Edward Golden, Ephram Blackburn, 
Ebenezer E. Morgan, Thomas Early, 
Richard Weathers and James Van- 
winkle, twelve good and lawful 
men, who being elected, tried and 
sworn well and truly to try the issue 
joined, and true deliverance make 
between the State of Indiana and the 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



53 



said defendant, McCulluin, having 
heard the evidence and pleading, 
retired from the bar to consiilt, 
and after some time returned into 
court the following verdict, to-wit: 
We, of the jury, do find the defendant 
guilty of stealing a deep dish, as 
charged in the indictment, of the value 
of sixty-two and a half cents, and 
do further find that he returns the 
dish stolen and the value thereof, and 
two-fold the value thereof if the dish 
stolen be not restored ; shall make 
his fine to the State of Indiana, for the 
use of Crawford county, to he ren- 
dered in the like sum of sixty-two and 
a half cents, and we do further find 
that he receives two stripes on his 
bare hack. Thomas Parr, Foreman , 
It is very strange that no record 
can be found of the indictment, trial 
and execution of Ooley, but it is true. 
There is not the scratch of a pen in 
the records as to the trial. The only 
way that we account for its loss is the 
fact that it is very evident that the 
original records of proceedings were 
kept on loose paper. For this reason, 
we find an entry by the presiding 
judge himself in 1823, "that the clerk 
shall be relieved of making any full 
record of cases that had been tried 
prior to that term, (May, 1823 ), 
because he has not been provided 
with a book before that time." So it 
is supposed during the removal of the 
records, the history of this criminal 
trial was lost, "We have been able 
to find two witnesses as to this execu- 
tion. In the year 181 ( .>, Ooley killed 



a man named Briley, at or near 
White Oak Hill, in the north part of 
the county. He was captured on Big 
Blue river and taken to Mount Ster- 
ling, tried for murder in the first 
degree, found guilty and sentenced to 
be hanged at that place. From the 
time of the trial, till the execution, he 
was kept near where Marengo now 
stands, in the old block house, there 
being no jail in the county at that 
time. The settlers guarded him, turn 
about, and on the day of his execution 
he was hauled in a cart to the gallows. 
When all -was ready, the sheriff, Dan- 
iel Weathers, drove the cart out from 
under him and he swung into eternity. 
He was buried near the gallows. 
Robert Sharp, who stdl lives, wit- 
nessed the execution from the top of a 
beech bush. The first record of the 
Common Pleas Court of the county is 
as follows : "House of James Barker," 
December 7, 1818. This being the 
day for holding court for the county 
of Crawford," at the house of James 
Barker, pursuant to an act of the Gen- 
eral Assembly passed at the first ses- 
sion of the Second General Assembly, 
entitled an act to attach the county 
of Crawford to the second circuit court, 
met ; present, the Hon. Henry Green 
and James Glenn, Associate Judges. 
Jonathan Rice, Administrator of Isaac 
Edwards, returned into court an inven- 
tory and ordered it to be filed. Or- 
dered that the court adjourn to Mt. 
Sterling. Mt. Sterling, December 7, 
1818. Court met pursuant to adjourn- 
ment, December 7, 1818. Ordered 



54 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



that court adjourn until court in 
course. Henry Green and James 
Glenn, Judges. February term, 1819. 
February 15, 1819. This being the 
day appointed for holding the Febru- 
ary term of the Crawford Probate 
Court. The court met at court 
house in Mount Sterling in said coun- 
ty. Present, the Hon. James Glenn, 
Associate Judge. Ordered that court 
adjourn until court in course. James 
Glenn, May term, May 17, 1819. 
This being the day appointed for hold- 
ing the May term of the Crawford 
Probate Court, the court met at the 
court house in Mount Sterling, there- 
fore present the Hon. Henry Green 
and James Glenn, Associate Judges. 

At this term Nancy Cochran, 
administratrix of Nathaniel Cochran, 
deceased, returned into court her bill 
of appraisement. Ordered to be tiled. 
Ordered that court adjourn until court 
in course. Henry Green and James 
Glenn, associate judges. First divorce 
case was brought by Andrew Mason 
against Clara Mason at the Feb- 
ruary term of court, 1819. Divorce 
was granted. All legal publications 
were made in the Indiana Gazette, 
pidolished* in the town of Corydon. 
The village of Mt. Sterling was the 
only one in the county at the time the 
commissioners selected it as the seat 
of justice. In a short time, how- 
ever, the settlers turned their eyes 
toward the river as their best outlet, 
and it was thought best to remove the 
county seat to the river. Fredonia, 
laid out by General Thorn, and Leav- 



enworth, laid out by the Leavenworth 
brothers, went into competition for 
the honor. General Thorn built a 
j>retentious court house for that day, in 
the town of Fredonia and gave it to 
the county for its use, and owing to 
that fact Fredonia came out victorious. 
So the county seat was removed to 
Fredonia. The last term of court was 
held in Mt. Sterling, in October, 1821. 
There is no record of the removal that 
has been preserved. At the October 
term of the Circuit Court a seal was 
adopted for the county as follows: 
"Brass metal ; on the outer edge, the 
words ' CraAvford Circuit Court, Ind- 
iana, 1 are engraved, an eagle in the 
center with wings extended, having 
scale in the lower part of the eagle, 
with a flag from the eagle's mouth, 
with these words, Lex et Veritas.'''' 

The first term of court held at Fre- 
donia began on March 18th, 1822. 
Hon. James Glenn, Judge. Although 
Fredonia succeeded in getting the 
county seat, her rival, Leavenworth, 
was not vanquished and in fact soon 
outstripped Fredonia in trade, popu- 
lation, etc. That in 1813 the county 
seat was removed from Fredonia to 
Leavenworth, where it still remains. 
In 1846, James Fields murdered his 
mother in the neighborhood of Mill- 
town. He was arrested, tried, con- 
victed and hanged in this county. 
He was convicted at the November 
term of court and excuted on Dec. 18, 
1846, at Leavenworth. Samuel Clark 
Avas the sheriff. Many are the auius- 
iDg incidents told of the early litigants. 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



55 



One told us by a friend was to this 
effect ; Judge Lockhart fined a fellow 
and sentenced him to jail for twelve 
hours for assault and battery and order, 
ed the sheriff to take him to jail. The 
sheriff, John Barnett, and the prisoner 
were good friends, so he told the prison- 
er to keep out of the Judge's sight 
and all would be right. 

In an hour or two the Judge, look- 
ing out of the window, saw the pris- 
oner pitching dollars in the yard, and 
turning to Clerk, says: "Mr. Clerk 
enter a fine of $10 against the Sheriff. 
Mr. Coroner, you will please take 
charge of the Sheriff ; " but, on looking 
over to where the Coroner sat, he saw 
that official was "too utterly full" to 
comply with his rerpiest, and, taking 
in the absurdity of the whole thing 
he broke into a smile and ordered 
court to stand adjourned. The first 
marriage license was issued July 4th, 
1818, to Joseph Bohall to wed Miss 
Sarah Milstid. They were married 
July 10th, 1818, by J. Newberry, Jus- 
tice of the Peace. The following is a 
list of the County Clerks in the order 
of their service : Wm. Samuels began 
1818; Ebenezer E. Morgan's term 
ended 1846 ; Samuel Sands, 1847; Wm. 
Mansfield, September, 1848; C. W. 
Kendall, 1853; Wm. A Jackson, 1857; 
C. W. Kendall, 1859; James M. 
Lemonds, 1867; David G. Barnett, 
1867; W. L. Seacat, 1871; W. L. 
Temple, 1*75; Thad. P. Kelso, 1883; 
Win. Shelby Ross is the present clerk. 
The county was first laid off into five 
townships, afterwards increased to 



seven. This number was increased to 
nine as follows : Jennings, Whiskey 
Run, Liberty, Sterling, Potoka, John- 
son, Union, Ohio and Boone. Leaven- 
worth, the present county seat, was 
laid off in 1818 by Zebulon and Seth 
Leavenworth. Wm. M. Wilber and 
Zebulon Leavenworth built the first 
cabins in 1818. In 1819 the first 
stores were opened by Z. Leavenworth 
and John L. Smith. The Methodists 
organized a society here in 1820 and 
in 1825 built a church. In 1820 the 
first school was established. A school- 
house was built the same j'ear. Zeb- 
ulon Leavenworth established a ferry 
across the Ohio at this place in 1820. 
Some of the early inhabitants were 
the Wilbers, Kendalls, Edwards, 
Phelps, Woodfords, Datsons, Saner- 
hebers and Coles. Leavenworth soon 
became a great trading point. In 
those early days vast numbers of 
steamboats plied the waters from 
Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Louisville 
to New Orleans. A great many flat * 
boats were running also at that time. 
People had wood yards and sold to 
boats. Hoop-poles, lime, corn, pork 
and produce were shipped to the 
South. Leavenworth was the ship- 
ping point for Crawford, Orange, Du- 
bois and part of Perry counties. Peo- 
ple engaged in manufacture of barrels 
and lime, etc. Fredonia which is only 
three miles down the river never pros- 
pered on account of having no port 
and Leavenworth drew from the trade. 
Indian Hollow which is one mile west 
of Leavenworth was a favorite resort 



56 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



of the Indians. It derives its name 
according to "Uncle Bob Sharp" from 
the fact that upon one occasion when 
the Indians were having a "Green 
Corn" dance at that point one of the 
Indians stepped in the fire and burned 
his foot very badly and running down 
the bank and into the river to cool 
his burn, his foot was caught between 
two roots, and his companions being 
pretty well under the influence of 
' 'firewater 1 ' not noticing him he was 
drowned. Since that, this has been 
known as Indian Hollow. First news- 
paper printed in the county was pub- 
lished at Leavenworth by Langdon in 
1839. It was a ten by twelve inch folio, 
called "The Crisis." The first serious 
back-set Leavenworth received was 
the building of the Louisville and St. 
Louis Air Line Railway. This took 
from her a large amount of the trade 
from the northern part of the county. 
Since the opening of the road for traf- 
fic, Leavenworth has not done so 
much business as before, but it is still 
the best business point in the county. 
The county has always been torn up 
by its county seat fights. We have 
seen how Fredonia and Leavenworth 
combated for the place. Then after 
the removal to Leavenworth there was 
quietude until about 1875, when Eng- 
lish made an attempt to remove the 
capitol to that place. After much 
litigation and bad feeling English was 
defeated. Marengo was the next 
town to make the attempt but she, too, 
failed. In 1881 Grantsburg made an 
attempt to get the prize. The removal 



was granted by the board of commis- 
sioners but after an appeal and vexa- 
tious law suit the decision of the board 
was reversed. In 1886 English made 
another attempt, the law having been 
changed from petition to election, and 
after one of the closest and most excit- 
ing contests ever carried on in the 
county, she again failed. Marengo 
it now appears is marshaling her forces 
for another contest. 

At present, an attempt is being 
made to change the law. It is gener- 
ally conceded that, sooner or later, 
Leavenworth must lose the county 
seat. This prevents capitalists from 
investing, and tends to weaken her 
commercially. Another thing that 
has injured Leavenworth and crippled 
her to a certain extent, is the floods of 
1882, 1883 and 1884. A great por- 
tion of the town is below high-water 
mart, and the unprecedented over- 
flows of those three years, racked and 
destroyed a great many of the houses. 
Some were floated entirely away. The 
citizens were discouraged by these 
repeated disasters, but since five years 
have passed without bringing any 
recurrence of high-water, they have 
again taken heart. Leavenworth has 
a population of one thousand souls. 
The county buildings are getting 
dilapidated to some extent. There 
are a number of handsome residences, 
a spoke factory, two saw mills, one 
roller process flouring mill, two skiff 
factories, two churches, a town hall, a 
number of good business houses and 
four hotels. The "Odd Fellows" have 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



57 



an elegant two story building. A 
substantial brick school building cost- 
ii]«- some $5,000. There are three news- 
papers: The Crawford County Dem- 
ocrat, published by Wm. Ellsworth and 
Son. It was established in 1879, and 
now has a circulation of 750. The 
Crawford County Republican, pub- 
lished by A. F. Fuukkouser, was 
established in 1888. It has attained 
a good circulation. The Saturday 
Hustler, a small weekly published by 
Wm. Rornaine. 

Milltown is a village of about -400 
inhabitants, situated where the L. E. 
A: St. Louis railway enters the county 
from the east, on Big Blue River. 
Here are the celebrated lime kilns of 
J. B. Speed & Co. 

A large force of men are employed 
in these kilns. As its name indicates, 
it lias a fine mill owned by Hostetter 
Bros. It has a good school building 
and two churches. Milltownwas laid 
out in the year, 1 >>:!'.>. It has never 
grown very rapidly. It is in tb^ 
midst of a fine farming region and its 
citizens are, iu a general sense, well 
to-do. Big Springs was laid out by 
David Stewart in 1839, D. M. Stew- 
art's addition in L859, M. T. Stewart's 
addition in 1856 and James M. Walts' 
in 1871. The first post office was 
called Tuckersville. It was changed 
to Proctorsville, where it was kept 
until 1851. A committee consisting 
of Dr. Mattingly, Hugh Taylor, Rob- 
ert Walts, D. S. Tucker and M. T. 
Stewart was appointed to arrange for 
removing it. A new name beJhg 



necessary, Dr. Mattingly suggested 
the name of Marengo, which was 
adopted. The town is now known 
by the name of Marengo. An attempt 
is being made to incorporate it. Gen. 
Wm. Henry Harrison was the guest 
of David Stewart during his term of 
office as Governor. He cut his name 
on a tree, the stump of which stands 
in the Academy sugar grove. Marengo 
is thirteen miles from Leavenworth 
and thirty-six miles from Louisville. 
It is noted on account of the beautiful 
cave recently discovered which bears 
its name, and which has been already 
described in this pages. But that 
which has made Marengo the "Boston" 
of Crawford county is the Marengo 
Academy, founded and established 
by Prof. Jno. M. Johnson. His father, 
Wm. B. Johnson, emigrated to this 
State from Kentucky in 1821. He 
married Charlotte H. Pankey in 1822. 
Wm. B.Johnson was a pioneer school- 
teacher and commanded the enormous 
salary of one dollar a day and board. 
His son, John M., was bred to look 
upon education as ennobling to man. 
His father gave him a collegiate edu- 
cation, but the young man had to 
struggle to get through. He gradu- 
ated at Bloomington, in perhaps 1852. 
He had, however, taught his first 
school in the year 1848, and introduced 
the first blackboard ever used in the 
community. The story of the founding 
and establishment of the Academy 
we tell in his own simple words: 
"Fate, or rather as I prefer to believe, 
a kiud, beneficent all-wise Providence, 



58 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



has confined almost my entire life's 
labor to Crawford county. After I 
graduated, Bishop Glossbreuner sent 
special word to me to go east and cast 
in my lot with some of the eastern 
conferences, where, in his opinion, I 
could do as much good as in this far 
west, and would be better remuner- 
ated financially. I could see no way 
open for me to leave my native county, 
hence I did not go. I was invited to 
Illinois to teach, where teachers' 
wages were there said to be higher 
than here. I could not go. I was 
chosen a member of the Faculty of 
Hartsville University, now Hartsville 
College. I accepted ; took one of 
Crawford county's best girls for a life- 
partner, and went ; filled my place 
satisfactorily to those concerned. But 
I could not see the way open for me 
to stay. I came back. I went to 
Spencer county. Taught two five- 
months terms. All, so far as I know, 
were well pleased. I returned to 
Crawford. I was offered the princi- 
palship of a high school in Greene 
county, at a salary of two thousand 
dollars per annum, I to select my < >wn 
assistant. I thought I would go. I 
spoke to a young lady to take the 
position of assistant, provided I made 
the arrangements to go. I never 
made them. I do not know why. An 
opening for a school that should be 
above the common school, and that 
would give young men and young 
ladies an opportunity for a higher 
education, developed in the town of 
Big Springs. I walked in. My cir- 



culars were struck, stating when the 
"Marengo Graded School" would begin. 
As no person knew where Marengo 
was, for that was only the name of an 
obscure postoffice, I had to tell in my 
circulars that the "Marengo Graded 
School" would be in the town of 
Big Springs, Crawford county, Indi- 
ana. The school opened March 20th, 
1S69, in the house now occupied by 
Edward Mitchell, with sixty pupils in 
attendance. That session turned out 
three preachers, six physicians, four 
attorneys, and one who intended to 
study law, but died, and one who yet 
contemplates law ; one surveyor, one 
trustee, and, to me, an unknown num- 
ber of teachers. Four terms were 
taught in the old house. The fifth 
opened in the new Academy building, 
which took the name of "Marengo 
Academy." The school lias been 
running for, within a few weeks, 
twenty years. Many young ladies 
and gentlemen have been helped to a 
better education than the}- ever could 
have gotteu had there been no 
Marengo Academy. Board and tui- 
tion have always been cheap here. 
The school has tried to be the poor 
man's friend. Those with plenty of 
money can always go where they 
wish; those of only moderate means 
can come to Marengo on account of 
the cheapness. Those with no means 
have never been turned away, but 
they have been boarded and taught, 
and time given them to make the 
money, after they had received the 
education ; enough to teach school or 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



59 



engage in some other employment by 
which to make money to pay their 
board and school bills. Young men 
preparing for the ministry have been 
given their tuition at one-half of reg- 
ular prices regardless to what denomi- 
nation they might Lave belonged ; 
the same half prices to the children of 
all ministers actively engaged iu min- 
isterial work. Owing to the short 
time allotted me for writing, only an 
estimate can be made of the number 
of those who have been educated 
wholly, or in part, at the Academy. 
The attendance has never been large, 
but often laro-e enough for the good 
of those attending. There have been 
probably about two thousand different 
persons who have attended the Acad- 
emy. Some of these are dead. Most 
of the living ones are honorably 
employed. Marengo Academy's stu- 
dents can be found in legislative halls, 
on the judges' bench, in the sacred 
desk, at the bar, in the sick-room, as 
pkvsicians relieving the suffering:, in 
the school-room teaching u the young 
idea how to shoot," and in every hon- 
orable calling or business common to 
our country. Long may it live to 
bless Crawford county, my own nati\ e 
county! I shall soon be numbered 
with the dead. May my memory live 
in the kind heart of some one or more, 
who has loved to linger within the 
Academy's consecrated walls! 

Marengo is, next to Leavenworth, 
the largest town in the county, with 
three mills, tliree churches, a public 
school building and various other 



buildings and enterprises. It is a 

pushing place and has a bright future. 

English was laid out as Hartford 

1839. The name was channel 1 



in 



when it was incorporated, to English. 
It was nothing more than a strao-cdino- 
little village with a few stores, grocery 
and blacksmith shop until the comple- 
tion of the Air Line road. For a few 
\ ears it grew rapidly but seems now 
on a stand still. It is celebrated on 
account of the "Hazlewood Sulphur 
Springs," which are situated one half 
mile north. This is a famous watering 
place. A large and commodious 
hotel stands in the midst of delightful 
grounds. There is a beautiful f< >untain 
in the yard and every known conven- 
ience is there. The building; alone 
cost $40,000. It is now owned and 
controlled by Dr. George R. Hazle- 
wood. English has a population of 
some five hundred people or more; 
has one church, school building, some 
handsome residences and good busi- 
ness houses. One newspaper, "The 
English News," is published there. 
It was founded iu 1886 and has at- 
tained a fair circulation — Taswell is a 
village of some two hundred people. 
It consists of school-house, hotel, black- 
smith shop, business houses, etc., on 
the Air Line railroad, about seven 
miles west of Eno-lish. It has grown 
up since the railroad was built and 
has about reached its zenith. 

Eckerty is a pretty little town, four 
miles west of Taswell, on the railroad. 
Laid out by Christopher Eckerty in 
1873. It has a handsome church, 



60 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



a good school building, one of the pret- 
tiest hotels in the county, a good 
" roller process " mill, and quite a 
number of good business houses. It 
is a neat clean little town with an ap- 
pearance of thrift. 

Grantsburgh was laid out in 1854. 
It now has a population of about two 
hundred. Has a few nice residences, 
business houses, nice church, school 
building, etc. Its proximity to Eng- 
lish, only four miles away, and its not 
being on the railroad, tend to dwarf 
it. Its future prospects are not flatter- 
ing. 

Alto:n" is one of the prettiest towns 
in the county, is situated on the Ohio 
river about two miles from the western 
boundary of the county. It was 
founded in 1838. It, like Leaven- 
worth, lias suffered much from high 
waters. It has an elegant new school 
house, two churches, Methodist and 
Baptist, ami a number of good busi- 
ness houses and residences. The 
Indiana Oak Mills are situated at the 
mouth of Little Blue river, at the edge 
of the town, and is the largest manu- 
factory we have in the county. Alton 
is the nearest point on the river to the 
White Sulphur Well. It is about six 
miles from Alton, in one of the most 
romantic spots on earth. The well 
wis sunk for petroleum, but instead, 
they struck this vein of sulphur water, 
equaling the famous White Sulphur 
Springs, of Virginia. Its medicinal 
properties are unexcelled. Large num- 
bers visit it each year to drink the 
water and to bathe in it, 'I here is a 



large and commodious hotel at the 
place, owned by the Boyd Brothers. 
This is destined to be one of the 
greatest health resorts in the State. 
Plenty of the finest fishing and hunting 
is found in the neighborhood. 

Fredonia, as has already been said, 
never prospered. It has gone down 
to a country post office. The old 
houses are fast tumbling down and 
going to decay. In this town the first 
brick structure in the county was built, 
Wicklift'e, Magnolia, Mount Prospect, 
Riceville, Temple and Pilot Knob are 
country villages and post offices. There 
is one thing that brought Crawford 
county to the front very rapidly, and 
that was the building of the Louisville, 
Evansville <fc St. Louis railway. It 
runs through the entire length of the 
county from east to west, a dh-tance 
of twenty-seven miles. 

It opened up a market for her tim- 
ber and stone and surplus productions 
and the north part of the county has 
made more rapid strides in the past 
eight years than in a quarter of a cen- 
tury before. There is now only one 
serious drawback to the county and that 
is the lack of good roads. In the sum- 
mer the roads are fairly good, but in 
the winter they are impassable. There 
is plenty of material to build pikes 
throughout the county. AVith a prop- 
er effort a turnpike could be built 
from Leavenworth to Marengo; then 
were the roads leading to it properly 
worked the county would be in far bet- 
ter shape in this respect. Situated in 
what is called "The Pocket," of Indi- 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



61 



ana, a region that became notoriously 
unsavory during the Rebellion as a hot 
bed of secession and "Knights of the 
Golden Circle,"yet its people were loyal 
to a fault. Although "Bowles" came 
down to organize a few lodges of the 
Southern sympathizers, and while the 
county is on the border next to Ken- 
tucky where slavery was upheld, yet 
this county of Crawford sent more sol- 
diers to the defense of the Union, than 
any count}" in the North in proportion 
to her population. Every family sent 
a husband, brother or father. There 
was loyalty among the hills and hol- 
lows, and many a home is saddened 
to-day because of the war. The coun- 
ty is justly proud of the part she took 
in the great struggle. The first regi- 
ment that received many troops from 
the county was the 17th Infantry. 
Jesse (road became a captain of one of 
the companies. Dr. E. R. Hawn went 
out as second lieutenant. Soon after 
the 23d regiment was formed, and 
Crawford sent company "H," among 
whom were Captain Abbott, Lieuten- 
ants Jesse Pessler and W. H. Bulling- 
tou. The next regiment that had 
any Crawford county men was the 1st 
Indiana Cavalry. Company "E" was 
made in this county. Among its ni ited 
men were Capt. Wilshire Sloan, Maj. 
Milton Clendening and Major Win. V. 
Weathers. In the 38th Infantry she 
sent Company "K," said to have been 
one of the bravest regiments in the 
army. Judge M. D. L. Gibbs, of 
Leavenworth, was a member. The 
next regiment was the 49th Infantry ; 



both Companies "F" and "K" formed 
in this county. Dr. E. R. Hawn 
became surgeon. Geo. W. Riddle went 
out as First Lieutenant and became 
Adjutant of the Regiment. Both of 
these gentlemen have their biographies 
in these pages. The latter still lives 
and is one of the most famous of our 
living soldiers. For an act of daring 
bravery (inv. Morton made him Colo- 
nel of the 144th Regiment. He never 
knew fear and was the idol of his men. 
In the 50th and also in the 53d Regi- 
ments there was a company of Craw- 
ford county men. Company "G" of 
the 66th Regiment went from this 
county. John R. Land wis Captain, 
and John Kemp, Lieutenant. In the 
81st there was a company from this 
county. Some Crawford men in the 
93d Regiment. Companies "D," "F" 
and "I" of the 144th Regiment were 
wholly or in part composed of men 
from this county. Also the 13th 
Indiana cavalry had one company 
commanded by Capt. Henry Clenden- 
ing from this county. Also Company 
'•!;.'■ of the 24th Infantry. Capt. 
Charles Lamb's independent company 
of mounted scouts all from this county. 
James R. Clark was First Lieuten- 
ant. There were some scattering men 
in other regiinenN and we could men- 
tion a hundred men whose names 
are the synonyms of bravery, courage 
and devotion to the Union. Many 
are the anecdote- told by the boys 
who wore the blue. One told me by 
Col. Geo. W. Riddle will bear repeat- 
ing as its truthfulness is vouched for 



62 



HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



by the Colonel. Allen Johnson, who 
lives near Sulphur Well, belonged to 
the 49th Regiment and was detailed at 
Chickasaw Bay on, where the bullets 
flew like hail, to carry off the wound- 
ed. He picked up a fellow who had 
been shot through the foot, and just 
after he had slung him across his 
shoulder, a bullet from the enemy 
went through his head. As he was 



carrying him along, Col. Riddle says 
"Why are you carrying off that dead 
man? " "He's not dead," says John- 
son. " He is dead," replied Riddle. 
Johnson throwing the fellow down 
and perceiving that his skull was 
crushed, said, "Well, Colonel, he told 
me a lie, because he said he was ouly 
shot through the foot." 




Floyb County. 



(By C. W. Cottom, Esq.) 



WHEN the first settlers came into 
what is now* Floyd County, in 
1804, there were but three counties in 
the territory now embraced in the State 
of Indiana. The county of Clark, which 
embraced all of the present Floyd 
county, was organized in 1801, and 
the counties of Knox and Dearborn 
were organized in 18jQ2. At that 
period nearly all of that sub -division 
of the State known as Southern Indi- 
ana, was subject to incursions by 
war and hunting parties of the Indi. 
ans of the Shawanee, Phmkeshaw, Mi- 
ami and Pottawattomie tribes; and the 
earliest settlers have left the record 
that they had also encountered in this 
part of the State straggling depreda- 
tory parties of the Delawares and Wy- 
andottes. The Shawanees, however, 
were the original proprietors of this 
part of Indiana, and these warlike 
savages, of whom Tecumseh and his 
brother, The Prophet, were the chiefs, 
in the early years of the present cen- 
tury, and who organized them for the 
war of 1812 as the " Shawanees 7 
League, 11 into which all the northern 



and many of the southern tribes 
were aggregated. 

When the first emig rants cam e from 
Kentucky and made their homes on 
Knob Creek and near the present 
site of the little town of Georgetown, 
in the then county of Clark, the bound- 
aries of that county were defined as 
follows : " Beginning on the Ohio 
liver at the mouth of Blue river, 
thence up that river to the crossing 
of the Vincennes road, thence in a 
direct line to the nearest point on 
"White river, thence up that river to 
its source and to Fort Recovery, thence 
on a line of the Northwest Territory 
to the Ohio, opposite the mouth of 
Kentucky river, thence with the 
meanders of the Ohio to the place of 
beginning." Out of this immense 
county there has since been formed 
the counties of Jefferson, Jennings, 
Jackson, Scott, Floyd, Harrison, 
Washington, Brown, Bartholomew, 
Shelby, Johnson, Marion, Hancock, 
Wayne, Randolph, Rush, Decatur, 
Orange, Martin and Lawrence. 

The first persons to settle in Floyd 



61 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



comity were Patrick Shields aud wife. 
They came into the county in the 
spring of 1804, and "squatted" upon 
a half section of land near the west- 
ern border of the county, in George- 
town township, aud near the town of 
Georgetown; Mrs. Shields being the 
first white woman to cross the range 
of hills known to the Indians as the 
"Silver Hills,'' but perverted by the 
pioneers into the more common-place 
and vulgar name of ." The Knobs. 11 
At that time these high and beautiful 
hills were covered by a heavy growth 
of cane, and in these cane-brakes was 
the favorite resort of bear, panthers, 
deer, wild turkeys, and all the larger 
game They were given the name of 
the "Silver Hills 1 ' by the Indians from 
the bright, silver- colored haze that 
hung upon their sides and crowned 
their summits. In after years Mrs. 
Shields, speaking of the emotions she 
felt on reaching the summit of these 
hills, said: "I was enraptured with 
the view. The Ohio river lay be- 
neath us, and we had a view of it up 
and down stream for many miles, as 
it glided peacefully on its course, 
looking like a broad ribbon of silver. 
Off to the southeastward five miles 
we could see the little town of Louis- 
ville, then regarded as the most sickly 
and unpromising of all the Ohio river 
settlements. It was evening and the 
roar of the falls floated to us on the 
still air with a music that filled my 
young heart with sad, but most enjoy- 
able emotions. I looked away to the 
southwest where the Kentucky hills 



reared their crowms like mountain 
peaks, and then we bade adieu to the 
charming landscape and plunged into 
the forest to seek a new home 
amid its wilds. I am the first white 
woman to look upon this fair pan- 
orama, and as I left its entrance- 
ment for the wilds yet unexplored, I 
felt that it was my farewell to civili- 
zation and unbidden tears filled my 
eyes, which, my husband discovering, 
I tried to conceal, and which he gen- 
tly wiped away and gave me re-assu- 
rance by kissing their stains from my 
cheeks. It was lonesome enough in 
our new home, but we both went to 
work with a hearty good will to build 
us a cabin, making our home in the 
covered wagon bed until it was com- 
jneted. I now look back to those 
days of 1804 with supreme pleasure, 
for to me, with all their hardships, 
they were very happy." Mr. and Mrs. 
Shields long lived in their Hoosier 
home ; but many years ago they passed 
away, honored and respected. The 
original Shields farm is still in culti- 
vation, after eighty -four years from 
its opening, and produces abundant 
crops. 

The next family to come into Floyd 
county was that of Robert La Follette. 
This family also came from Kentucky. 
They reached Floyd county in the au- 
tumn of 1804, and settled upon Gov- 
ernment land on Knob creek, in 
Franklin township. Robert La Fol- 
'lette and his wife were a sturdy couple, 
possessing all the material to make 
them pioneers of a new country. 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



65 



They were courageous and physically 
strong and healthy, of sterling integ- 
rity and distinguished for industry. 
They were poor financially, but rich 
in resources, and while they were 
often in great straits there never was 
a time when they were in want. Both 
were good shots with the rifle, and 
when other resources for provisions 
began tofail, either of them could take 
down the trusty rifle from its resting 
place on buckhorn brackets above 
the cabin door and speedily replenish 
the larder with a deer, a few wild 
turkeys and an occasional bear. 
Squirrels, while numerous, were con- 
sidered too small game to waste cost- 
ly ammunition upon. It was thirteen 
miles from their home to the nearest 
mill — Tarascan's Mill at Shipping- 
port, and a journey "to mill" was 
attended by dangers. Mr. LaFollette 
usually made this trip in a flat-bot- 
tomed, box-shaped skiff, rowing up 
the river near the shore to avoid the 
strong current. The trip homeward 
was much easier, for the skiff would 
float with the current at the rate of 
four miles per hour, requiring but 
little rowing and only guidance. On 
a cold day in the latter part of De- 
cember, 1806, Mr. La Follette started 
in his skiff, with a sack of grain, to 
Tarascan's Mill. The weather grew 
colder steadily, and when he finally 
reached the mill the mercury was sev- 
eral degrees below zero and the river 
rapidly filling with floating ice. The 
next morning heavy ice filled the Ohio 
from shore to shore, and the sturdy 



pioneer felt that he was cut off from 
home where his wife- and baby were 
alone and unprotected. He deter- 
mined to reach the Indiana shore, 
feeling a presentiment of danger to 
his family; but in his effort he was 
nearly drowned, his rescue from the 
ice being effected by several brave 
men at imminent peril. He could 
only wait for the river to close by ice, 
aud this it did in a few days, as the 
weather grew intensely cold. As soon 
as he thought the ice would bear his 
weight he placed his sack of corn meal 
in his skiff, which he pushed over the 
ice ahead of him till he came to Sand 
Island. Here he crossed over to the 
Indiana shore, hid his skiff in the un- 
dergrowth of bushes, aud taking his 
sack of corn meal on his shoulders 
started for his home, which he reached 
by evening. He found his wife with- 
out provisions of any kind except 
m«-at, and almost without fire. She 
stated that on his second night from 
home two Indians had come to the 
cabin and tried to gain an entrance. 
She took down the rifle and carefully 
loaded it, and then placed her flax 
hackle near for use in an emergency. 
The Indians were ordered away, and 
she permitted them to see her rifle 
that they might know she was pre- 
pared for defeuse. She kept up a 
steady conversation as if with some 
one in the house with her, and in this 
way deceived the Indians, who left 
after an hour's stay in the vicinity of 
the house. They returned the next 
afternoon and begged to be admitted 



66 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



and given something to eat, but Mrs. 
La Follette once - more warned them 
away with her rifle and they disap- 
peared over the hills and were seen 
no more. 

It was in the year 1804, the date of 
the first settlement of Floyd county, 
that Gov. W. H. Harrison, of Indiana 
Territory, made the important "treaty 
of St. Louis" with the Delawares, 
Piankeshaws, Kaskaskias and Sacs and 
Foxes Indian tribes, by which acces- 
sion over 50,0 00,0 00 acres of land was 
made to the United States, embracing 
the territory from the Ohio to the 
Wabash, and between the Illinois, 
Mississippi and Fox rivers. Other 
Indian tribes, however, claimed to own 
a portion of these lands, and in conse- 
quence continued their incursions into 
southern Indiana, the last one of which 
ended in the "Pidgeon Roost Massacre" 
by Shawanees, on the 3d of Septem- 
ber, 1812. The settlement had been 
formed jn 1809, and was in the 
present limits of Scott county. There 
were twenty-eight souls in. all, men, 
women and children ; of these all 
were murdered except four, Mrs. John 
Beadle and her two children, the 
brave mother escaping with her little 
ones in the darkness and walking six 
miles to the nearest settlement to give 
information of the terrible butchery ; 
and a man named Collins. The alarm 
spread rapidly and within twenty-four 
hours the settlers had met as militia 
and started on the trail of the Indians, 
but failed to overtake them. Many of 
those killed were buried in their 



cabins. This was the last Indian in- 
cursion into this part of Indiana, and 
in the pursuit of the murderous sav- 
ages the two pioneers of Floyd county, 
Patrick Shields and Robert La Follette 
took part. 

Among the first, if not the very first 
settlers in Lafayette township, were 
John and Nancy Chew, who came 
into the county in 1810. John Chew 
was a volunteer in the war of 1812, 
serving as a private soldier in Captain 
Spier Spencer's company of ''Spencer 
Rifles," and fighting with his company 
in the battle of Tippecanoe on Nov. 7, 
1811, this being one among the 
fiercest battles of the p'oneer period, 
of Indiana; the loss of the Americans, 
commanded by Gen. William H. Har- 
rison being 62 killed and 126 wounded, 
out of between 700 and 800 men en- 
gaged. The Indians, under Tecumseh 
and his brother, the Prophet, num- 
bered 1300. Capt. Spencer and both 
his lieutenants, McMahan aud Berry, of 
the "Spencer Rifles," were among the 
killed, and many of the privates of 
that gallant company were either 
killed or wounded. John Chew, how- 
ever, who fought as bravely as any 
man in the battle, escaped unhurt. It 
may be stated in this connection, that 
the Indian name for Tippecanoe river, 
for which this famous battle is called, 
though fought on Burnet's creek, is 
"ketto-tippe-ce-nunk," which means 
"Buffalo Fish." The descendants of 
John Chew still reside in Floyd county. 

In October, 1811, the first steam- 
boat built on the western waters left 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



67 



Pittsburg for New Orleans under the 
charge of Capt. N. J. Koosevelt, one of 
the company chartered by the Territo- 
rial Legislature of Indiana in Decem- 
ber, 1810, as the "Ohio Steamboat 
Navigation Company." The incor- 
porators were Daniel D. Tompkins, 
Robert R. Livingston, DeWitt Clinton, 
Robert Fulton and Nicholas J. Roose- 
velt. The boat descended the Ohio at 
the rate of about eight miles an hour, 
and arrived at Louisville, Ky., early in 
November, where it had to remain over 
a month for a sufficient rise in the 
river to enable it to pass over the falls. 
The passage of this steamer down the 
river caused great consternation among 
the scattered settlers, many of whom 
thought the hoarse noise of escaping 
steam through the escape pipes was 
caused by some fiendish spirit; others 
thought a burning comet had fallen 
into the river and produced the 
strange sounds and fiery emissions 
from the smoke stacks. 

The great earthquake of 1811 fol- 
lowed soon after the arrival of this 
steamboat at the falls of the Ohio. 
The first shock was felt by the settlers 
in Floyd county on the 16th of De- 
cember, and the shocks continued with 
more or less severity until the 21st of 
April, 1812, when the last one was 
felt. The pioneers of that day say 
they witnessed many changes during 
the periods of these earthquake shocks 
in the topography of the county. Many 
previously living streams of water 
disappeared entirely and their former 
beds are now overgrown with forests 



or covered with cultivated fields. A 
pioneer of that period in Clark county 
states that he well recollects seeing 
the trees in that county in a perfect 
calm, move and interlock with each 
other as if they were agitated by a 
great tempest. The chimneys of the 
cabins of the settlers were thrown 
down, and in Louisville, Ky., it is 
stated, not a single brick chimney 
withstood the terrific shocks, and 
every brick house was so cracked and 
damaged as to be rendered unsafe. 
The people often spent the night in 
the open air from terror. Robert La 
Follette, the first settler in Franklin 
township, Floyd county, says some of 
the shocks were so violent as to throw 
him and his wife from their feet in 
their cabin and cause great rocks to 
break loose from the strata in the 
highest hills and come down with a 
force sufficient to break down large 
forest trees that stood in the line of 
their fierce descent. 

In the year 1805 the Territorial Leg- 
islature of Indiana passed an act in- 
corporating Benjamin Hovey, Josiah 
Stevens, Davis Floyd and others to 
construct a canal around iha falls 
of the Ohio on the Indiana* side. 
The charter provided that the head 
of the canal was to be at Jefferson- 
ville, and that it should end at or 
near the mouth of Silver Creek. It is 
a historic statement that Col. Aaron 
Burr assisted in obtaining this charter 
and was expected to assist in complet- 
ing the canal. It is known that Col. 
Burr was at Jeffersonville and Vin- 



63 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



cennes about this time, and that be- 
lieving his objects to be laudable- 
many estimable citizens of the western 
country were ardent admirers of Col. 
Burr at the outset. 

The first settlers in New Albany 
and Greenville townships, Floyd 
county, came in 1808. There was a 
ferry house at the present site of New 
Albany — a cabin — as early as 1S04, 
but it was only used for the protec- 
tion of people awaiting ferriage, and 
was not occupied as a residence until 
1808. The first mill built in the 
county was located on Falling Run 
Creek, in the present northern suburb 
of New Albany. It was erected by 
Henry Jones, of Shelby county, Ky., 
in 1810, and washed away by a flood 
in the creek in the latter part of the 
year 1813. 

The county of Floyd was organized 
in 1819, and is divided into five civil 
townships as follows: New Albany, 
Lafayette, Greenville, Georgetown 
and Franklin. It contains 150 square 
miles and the acreage of the several 
townships are: New Albany, outside 
the city, 19,511; Lafayette, 19,110; 
Greenville, 20,900; Georgetown, 17,- 
220; Franklin, 15,150; total, 91,951. 
The county lies between the 38th and 
39th degrees of latitude, and the 35th 
and 36th degrees of longitude, and 
possesses a most equitable, mild, de- 
lightful and healthful climate. 

The county was named for Davis 
Floyd, a member of the Territorial 
Legislature in 1805 and afterwards 
a judge in Indiana and in Florida. 



Judge Floyd, Col. R. A. New, the first 
Secretary of State for Indiana, A. 
Ralston, a prominent and enterprising 
citizen, and a number of others 
equally prominent in the territorial era 
of the State, became infatuated by Col. 
Aaron Burr and joined in his conspiracy, 
which was exposed by Gen. Wilkinson, 
and started with Burr on his treasona- 
ble expedition. After Judge Davis 
Floyd's return to Indiana from the ex- 
pedition—it is said he was to have been 
one of Burr's principal officers — he was 
indicted for a misdemeanor, and on 
being convicted was sentenced to be 
imprisoned for half an hour. Judge 
Floyd afterwards became one among 
the most popular men in Indiana Ter- 
ritory, as there was a very strong feel- 
ing in the Territory at that time in 
favor of capturing Louisiana and the 
mouth of the Mississippi river from 
the Spanish government that then 
owned them. 

The country immediately surround- 
ing New Albany on the west and 
north is considerably broken by the 
range of hills. This hill region, bow- 
ever, is celebrated for its adaptability 
to the culture and production of fruits 
of all kinds grown in this latitude and 
the lands are consequently valuable. 
Strawberries, raspberries, gooseber- 
ries, currants, cherries, quinces, pears, 
peaches and apples are produced in 
great perfection on these uplands, the 
crops being large and the fruit of the 
finest quality and flavor. The annual 
fruit crop of the county averages 
about $500,000. They produce also 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



69 



good crops of corn, oats, wheat, pota- 
toes and vegetables of all kinds, and 
are therefore very desirable. They are 
finely adapted to the thrifty growth 
of the vine, producing splendid crops 
of all varieties of grapes. After the hills 
are passed westward and northward, 
as fine farming lands as are to be 
found in the "West spread out toward 
the south, west, central and eastern 
sections of the State, producing pro- 
lifically all the cereals; thickly settled, 
in a high state of cultivation, and pos- 
sessing all the advantages of nearness 
to railroad lines and navigable rivers. 

The timber of the county is varied : 
poplar, walnut, butternut, hackberry, 
sugar and soft maple, beech, elm, 
white, red, black and burr oak, honey 
locust, sycamore, hickory, mulberry, 
wild cherry, and chestnut are found 
in the forests. The rivers and creeks 
are the Ohio, Big and Little Indian, 
Silver Creek, Knob Creek, Middle 
Creek, Falling Run and Coon Creek. 

AVhile Floyd county possesses all 
the advantages of good schools, nu- 
merous churches, benevolent and se- 
cret societies, embracing in their scope 
nearly every Order, both native and 
foreign, it also offers to the emigrant 
all the attractions of good society. 
The people of the county are distin- 
guished for their generous hospitality 
and genial social characteristics. 
There i» no caste here founded upon 
birth, religion, or politics ; and prob- 
ably there is no county in the entire 
West of ecpial population, in which 



there is so little of that contemptible 
aristocracy that has its only basis 
upon the possession of wealth. Men 
and women are not ostracised from so- 
ciety here because they may happen 
to be poor ; but as a rule they are ad- 
mitted into society upon their real 
merits in mental, moral and social cul- 
ture, without regard to their worldly 
possessions. Among the foreiga born 
portion of the population, and those 
whose parents, or one or other of 
them, were foreign born, there re 
mains all the generous characteristic 
and social customs of the Fatherland, 
and these make the emigrant of the 
same nationality feel at home immedi- 
ately upon coming among us. The 
native born citizens who come here 
from other sections of the Union will 
find all the advantages of the most re- 
fined society, and receive cordial wel- 
come from the people of Floyd county. 
Land in Floyd county varies iu 
price and value according to location. 
On the Ohio river bottoms and along 
the creek valleys, laud is of the best 
equality and is valued at from $40 to 
$150 per acre, the latter price for the 
best gardening lands. Lands on the 
hills are steadily enhancing in value 
by reason of their superior adaptabili- 
ty to fruit growing. Floyd county is 
famous for its strawberries, raspber- 
ries, currants, gooseberries, cherries 
and other small fruits, and all these 
grow to the highest, perfection on the 
hill lauds. The soil throughout the 
county is well adapted to corn, 
wheat, oats and grass, and maDy fine 



70 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



horses, cattle, sheep and hogs are 
produced in the county. 

The towns of Floyd county, besides 
New Albany, the county seat, are as 
follows: 

Mooresville, (Floyd Knobs post 
office,) Lafayette township, on the New 
Albany and Paoli turnpike, is pleasant- 
ly located on the south bank of Lit- 
tle Indian Creek, four miles north of 
New Albany, and contains several 
business houses, mechanical establish- 
ments, a fine public school building, 
a Christian church, and there is a large 
Catholic church a short distance east 
of the town. In a little cabin near 
Mooresville, while the Indians were 
yet in the country, a Catholic priest 
of the order of Jesuits, administered 
the rites of his church to the few 
scattered settlers and to the Indians. 
He was known to the Indians as 
"Black Gown." It was Father Mi- 
net, a missionary from the College of 
the Society of Jesus at Montreal, Can- 
ada. His lonfr missions were made 
on foot and extended through the 
then wilderness from Detroit to Vin- 
cennes. 

Scottsaille, Lafayette township, in 
the northwestern part of the county, 
contains a store, blacksmith shop, and 
a number of residences. At Mt. Eden 
church, near this town, is the head- 
quarters of the Church of the Latter 
Day Saints, an anti-polygamous branch 
of the Mormon church. The confer- 
ences of the sect are held here and 
the church in Indiana was first organ- 
ized here. Its membership is com- 



posed of men and women of estab- 
lished moral character, devotedly re- 
ligious, industrious and thrifty farm- 
ers and good citizens. Their methods 
of worship are not unlike those of 
the Methodists and Baptists in zeal. 
Their method of baptism is by im- 
mersion. There are good public 
schools at Scottsville. 

Greenville, in Greenville township, 
is located on the New Albany and 
Paoli turnpike, twelve miles north of 
New Albany. It is a flourishing 
business town, and next to New Al- 
bany, the largest town in the county 
as well as the oldest. Greenville 
came near being selected as the coun- 
ty seat. The County Commissioners 
proposed that the two contesting 
towns — Greenville and New Albauy 
— for the county seat, must decide the 
location by their donations, the town 
making the largest and best donation 
to be the seat of justice for the coun- 
ty. The contest was a very animated 
one ; but in the end New Albany 
bore off the prize, her citizens donat- 
ing the four blocks of ground, each 
120 feet square, at the four corners of 
Spring and State streets, besides money 
subscriptions, adding a bell for the 
Cowrt House. The bell gift won the 
county seat for New Albany, and with 
the money obtained from the sale of 
the two blocks of lots at the south- 
west and northwest corners of State 
and Spring streets and the cash sub- 
scriptions, the first court house for 
the county was erected, and several 
years later, the jail. These two build- 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



ings long ago were torn away to give 
place to the present elegant court 
bouse, jail and sheriff's residence on 
the remaining two blocks of lots at 
the southeast and northeast corners 
of State and Spring streets. The loss 
of the couuty seat was a severe blow 
to Greenville, but her enterprising 
citizens pushed ahead and their town 
steadily improved. It now has a 
number of business houses, a fine mill, 
good school houses and schools, saw- 
mills, stave and cooperage factories, 
churches for the Methodists, Presby- 
terians and Christians; halls for the 
Masons and Odd Fellows, and is beau- 
tifully located and a very pleasant 
place of residence. 

Gtalexa, Greenville township, is lo- 
cated on the New Albany and Paoli 
turnpike, has good schools, a Metho- 
dist and Lutheran church, a number 
of business houses and mechanical 
establishments, and a large and fine 
flour mill. The residences in the 
town are very neat and attractive in 
appearance. Galena is distinguished 
for its healthy location. 

Georgetown, Georgetown township, 
is a rapidly growing and very attract, 
ively located town, on the west side 
of the county, nine miles from New 
Albany. It has a number of thriving 
stores and mechanical establishments, 
churches of the Methodist, United 
Brethren and Baptist denominations, 
and a number of elegant residences 
and two good hotels. It is a station 
on the Louisville, Evansville and St. 
Louis Railroad, and will with its 



present growth soon be next to New 
Albany in population and business. 
It has halls for the Masons and Odd 
Fellows, and its schools rank among 
the best in the county. 

NEW ALBANY, INDIANA— 
New Albany is the county seat of 
Floyd County, Indiana, and was laid 
out in 1813 by Joel, Abner and Na- 
thaniel Scribner. The original plat 
of the town did not embrace more 
than one-third of its present area, the 
purchase of the Scribners amounting 
to but eight hundred and twenty-six 
and one-half acres. The land was pur- 
chased by the Scribner brothers of 
John Paul, who entered it at the Gov- 
ernment Land Office at Vincennes. 
The lots were disposed of by public 
auction on the first Tuesday and Wed- 
nesday of November, 1813, and there 
was a stipulation in the advertisement 
of the sale that "one-fourth part of 
each payment upon the lots sold shall 
be paid into the hands of trustees, to 
be chosen by the purchasers, until 
such payments shall amount to five 
thousand dollars, the interest of which 
to be applied to the use of schools in 
the town, for the use of its inhabi- 
tants forever." This was the manner 
in which the Scribner High School 
of New Albany, was founded, which, 
through the lapse of fifty-nine years 
has flourished, and is now one among 
the most efficiently managed and pros- 
perous high schools in Indiana. It 
is connected with the public schools 
of the city as the Colored High School. 
Provision was also made by the Serib- 



72 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



ners for- lots upon which to erect 
churches, county buildings, and for a 
public park, all of which generous de- 
signs by the founders of the city have 
been fully carried out. In 1814 a 
large number of families removed to 
New Albany, and from that time for- 
ward, notwithstanding the nearness of 
Louisville, and the start that town 
had gained in population and business; 
the contiguity of Jeffersonville and 
Shippingport ; and the laying off and 
settlement of Portland, on the opposite 
side of the Ohio, with the active com- 
petition these towns offered, New Al- 
bany had a steady and substantial, 
though not a rapid growth. On the 
4th of July, 1839, New Albany was 
incorporated as a city; P. M. Dorsey 
being the first Mayor, Henry Collins 
the first Recorder, Hon. John S. Davis 
the first city Clerk, Edward Brown, 
Sr., the first Treasurer, David Wilkin- 
son the first Collector of Taxes and City 
Marshal. The first Councilmen elect- 
ed, in 1839, were Patrick Crowley, 
James Collins, Israel C. Crane, Edward 
Brown, Hezekiah Beeler, Samuel M. 
Bolin, Henry W. Smith, Randall Craw- 
ford, Absalom Cox, William Under- 
bill, Preston F. Tuley, E. W. Benton. 
The valuation of the property of 
the city for taxation in 1839 was 
$1,760,735, and the rate of taxation 
sixty-five cents on the one hundred dol- 
lars of valuation. The population was. 
4,200. At this time New Albany was 
famous, as at present, for the health- 
fulness of her situation, and began to 
grow more rapidly; many important 



establishments in mechanics and mau- 
ufactures, steamboat building, and the 
mercantile interest having sprung up 
In 1839 an eminent citizen of Boston 
visited the town, and wrote back to 
the leading newspaper of that day as 
follows: ''The scenery from the hills 
surrounding this charming town is 
beautiful and grand beyond descrip- 
tion, and cannot fail to entrance and 
enrapture the traveler. The wide 
expanse of country, the sparkling 
La Belle Hivier, winding tortuously 
on its course from a point ten miles 
distant up the stream to an equal 
distance below the city ; the Falls 
with their never-ceasing yet musical 
roar ; Jeffersonville and Louisville 
at their head ; broad fields, crowned 
with the glories of the ] golden har- 
vest, and forests wreathed in carmine 
tinted and yellow and green foliage ; 
the 'Silver Hills' stretching away to 
the northeast, and intervening slopes 
and fields and densely wooded glens, 
with the river hills towering from 
four to six hundred feet skyward to 
the west, form a view of grandeur 
and beauty such as is nowhere else 
to be witnessed and enjoyed in In- 
diana." 

In 1850 the population had in- 
creased to 8,181 and the increase in 
the material interests of the city 
was proportionately advanced: in 
1860 the population was 12,000 ; and 
at the present time it is estimated at 
30,o00, and will not fall short of, but 
probably exceed that number; the 
population in the past years incre^s- 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



73 



ing very rapidly by reason of the 
establishment here within that time 
of additional manufactories to those 
previously existing and the building 
of additional and important railroads. 

There were no stirring incidents of 
importance in the early history of 
New Albany. It has had a quiet 
growth, and has ever been more cel- 
ebrated for its moral, religious, and 
educational advantages, fine climate 
and good health, than as a "fast town/' 
where vice is predominant and the 
temptations to youth numerous and 
alluring. In its religious, benevo- 
lent, and educational enterprises it 
has always held the rank of the first 
city of Indiana. 

New Albany is situated in latitude 
38 deg. 18 min. north, and longti- 
tude 8 deg. 4v) min. west, two miles 
below the Falls of the Ohio, directly 
opposite the west end of Louisville. 
It is laid out upon a beautiful pla- 
teau, above high water mark in the 
Ohio, upon two benches or plains 
that sweep northward by a gentle 
rise from the river, with wide streets 
crossing each other at right angles. 
To the west and northwest is a range 
of hills from three to five hundred 
feet in height, known to the Indians 
as the "Silver Hills, "' from the pe- 
culiarly bright, smoky halo that ever 
hangs around and over them. These 
hills are crowned with grand old for- 
est trees, or dotted here and there 
with neat and often elegant sub- 
burban residences, or farm houses. 
They add greatly to the beauty of 



the city, giving it a most charming 
and romantic appearance. From 
these hills a magnificent view of New 
Albany, Louisville, Jeffersonville, the 
Falls of the Ohio, the great Ohio 
river bridge at the Falls, the Ken- 
tucky and Indiana bridge at the east 
end of New Albany, the far away 
hills that loom up in grandeur along 
Salt river, in Kentucky, the famous 
Muldraugh Hill of that State, the 
entire range of "Silver Hills" in Indi- 
ana for many miles, and a long stretch 
of river. A more grand and beauti- 
ful natural panorama is nowhere 
else unrolled in Indiana. This range 
of hills protects the city from storms, 
and such a thing as a hurricane is 
unknown at New Albany, while the 
violence of such storms not un fre- 
quently falls with destructive force 
upon the neighboring cities of Louis- 
ville and Jeffersonville. These hills 
afford splendid building sites for sub- 
urban residences, and are especially 
celebrated for the superior quality 
and abundance of the peaches, pears, 
plums, apples, grapes, raspberries, 
strawberries and other fruits grown 
upon them. For the purposes of 
fruit culture the lands on these hills 
are in great demand. Nevertheless, 
they sell at remarkably low prices 
per acre. The city, to the west, along 
the line of the Ohio River, overlooks 
miles of rich and highly cultivated 
garden lands, while to the east and 
northeast, large and valuable farms 
meet the view. 

Located in the center of the valley 



74 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



of the Ohio, New Albany and the 
other cities around the Falls are 
destined to become the central cities, 
the commercial emporiums, and the 
manufacturing centers of the richest 
agricultural region on the continent. 
New Albany is in constant and easy 
communication with this vast region, 
which comprises seven states in its 
arena ; and by • means of the Ohio 
and Mississippi rivers and their 
tributaries, and her complete system 
of railroads, she has direct commu- 
nication with twelve of the largest 
producing states of America. It 
requires no prophetic vision to see 
that these great states must become, 
if they are not already, the glory and 
strength of the nation. By rail and 
river, New Albany is directly con- 
nected with all the great cotton, 
sugar and rice growing states. By 
the same means of communication, 
she is connected with all the agri- 
cultural states of the west, north- 
west, and southwest, and sitting in 
the very center of the great Ohio 
basin, at the Falls of the Ohio river, 
and below these natural barriers to 
navigation, her geographical position 
is one which challenges superiority, 
or even equality, upon the continent. 
All the vast area we have named can 
be made to supply her manufactories, 
and feed them by its demand, as well 
as build up and sustain her com- 
merce, mechanical establishments, 
and general trade. There is no de- 
nying the fact that the cities around 
the Falls of the Ohio occupy the 



most eligible position in the West, 
both in relation to manufactures and 
commerce. 

The following navigable rivers are 
accessible through the Ohio from New 
Albany throughout their vast ramifi- 
cations without any necessity for tran- 
shipment of freights : Alleghany, Ar- 
kansas, Big Black, Barren, Big Sandy, 
Cumberland, Green, Grand, Hatchee, 
Illinois, Kentucky, Kanawha, La 
Mine, La Fouche, Missouri, Mononga- 
hela, Muskingum, Mississippi, Ohio, 
Obion, Osage, Red, Rock, Sunflower, 
Tennessee, Wabash, White and Yazoo. 
These rivers, without the bayous, give 
New Albany natural avenues of com- 
merce and trade with fifteen States, 
and with three hundred and forty-six 
counties whose borders are directly 
washed by their waters, having a pop- 
ulation of 11,000,000 souls. The cash 
value of the farms of this population 
in 1880 by the census was $1,001,- 
562,1)48; of farm products, $1,019,- 
876,412; of live stock, $989,301,721. 
This is but a portion of the wealth of 
the sections penetrated by the navi- 
gable rivers to which New Albany is 
accessible. 

With the grand railroad system that 
centers here, New Albany is bound b > 
become, within a very short time, the 
most important shipping point on the 
Ohio river below the Falls. Freights 
from the east, southward bound, are 
brought here by rail for re-shipmant by 
boat southward; while freights from 
the south, the great staples of tobacco, 
cotton, sugar, and molasses, in partic- 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



75 



ular, are brought here by boat for re- 
shipmeut east and north. This gives 
to New Albany an immense commer- 
cial advantage, which will continue to 
increase each year as the prosperity of 
the south becomes more fully devel- 
oped and permanently established. 
It will add, too, very largely to the 
wealth and importance of New Al- 
bany, as this city will not only be- 
come noted as are-shipping point, but 
by the very force of circumstances, 
not to mention the well-known enter- 
prise and energy of her citizens, will 
become equally noted as a place for 
the interchange of the commodities, 
agricultural and manufactured, of the 
two sections of the Union. The city 
is located upon the verge of both sec- 
tions, and will become a great entrepot 
to the trade of both. 

The river trade of New Albany 
will compare favorably with that of 
any western city of equal population. 
The Secretary of the United States 
Treasury gives the river trade of the 
city for 1875 as twelve millions of 
dollars; for 1880, as thirteen million 
five hundred thousand dollars ; f< >r 
1886, as fifteen millions of dol- 
lars. Here, of itself, is an immense 
trade ; but to this is to be added the 
railroad, manufacturing, mechanical, 
mercantile, live stock, and produce, 
and general trade of the city, and not 
least, by any means, its coal and other 
mineral trade. 

New Albany is destined to become 
a great railroad center. Her natural 
advantages of location are highly 



favorable to this. The city is now 
the terminus of the Louisville, New 
Albany and Chicago; the Jeffersonville, 
Madison and Indianapolis ; the Louis- 
ville, Evansville, and St. Louis ; and 
the Ohio and Mississippi Railroads. 
These roads connect New Albany 
with all sections of the Union, north, 
south, east and west, giving her rail- 
road advantages possessed by few- 
cities in the west. 

New Albany is united to Louisville 
by the. magnificent iron bridge that 
spans the Ohio River at the Falls. 
Trains cross this bridge from New 
Albany and Louisville every twenty- 
five minutes, and so great is the travel 
by this route between the two cities 
becoming, that it will be but a short 
time until the trains are run oftener. 
This bridge is a fine structure and was 
built at a cost of over two millions 
of dollars. The Kentucky and Indi- 
ana bridge spans the Ohio River be- 
tween the east end of New Albany and 
the west end of Louisville, is of steel 
cantilever spans, and cost $1,500,000. 
It has tracks for steam cars, street 
railroad, vehicles, and footmen, and 
trains run over it between Louis- 
ville and New Albany every twenty- 
five minutes. These two bridges vir- 
tually make Louisville and New Al- 
bany one city in interest, if not in 
identity. New Albany and Louis- 
ville are also united by a line of first. 
class steam ferry-boats, owned by the 
New Albany ami Portland terry com- 
pany, which make their trips every 
ten minutes, and have immense power 



76 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



and carrying capacity. These ferry, 
boats connect on the Louisville side 
with two lines of street railroad, that 
carry passengers to all parts of Louis- 
ville for five cents. The cost of fer- 
riage is five cents to footmen, making 
the cost of a trip from New Albany 
to the extremest point in Louisville 
only ten cents. The fare charged on 
the J. M. <fc I. railroad, by way of the 
bridge at the Falls, from New Albany 
to Louisville is but five cents, and by 
way of the K. & I. bridge but ten 
cents, the latter including street car 
fare in New Albany, and commuta- 
tion tickets may be purchased by both 
the railroad and ferry routes at a re- 
duction on these low rates. Thus a 
person may reside in New Albany 
and do business at Louisville at very 
slight cost and no inconvenience, and 
vice versa ; considerations of much im- 
portance to those who may desire to 
engage in business at Louisville, but 
are deferred by the high rates of rent 
and value of residence property in 
that city, and the high rates of taxa- 
tion there on this description of prop- 
erty. 

While New Albany is well pro- 
vided with river navigation and rail- 
roads, her citizens have not been un- 
mindful of their connections with such 
portions of the interior as are inac- 
cessible by river or rail. With a lib- 
eral enterprise that has always been a 
characteristic of her wide-awake peo- 
ple, they have provided excellent turn- 
pikes in several directions, that give 
the citizens of the country and neigh- 



boring towns facilities for reaching the 
city, and afford splendid drives for 
those having the leisure and inclination 
to take advantage of these well-paved 
roads. The law of the State is very 
favorable to such improvements, pro- 
viding that the lands benefited by 
them may be specially taxed to aid in 
their construction. New Albany is 
now connected with all the adjoining 
counties by turnpikes. 

New Albany has, according to her 
population, the greatest number and 
length of paved streets and sidewalks 
of any western city. The total num- 
ber of miles of paved streets, side- 
walks and alleys is, as near as it is pos- 
sible to arrive at them without actual 
measurement, about forty-eight. These 
forty-eight miles of paving are laid 
down in the most substantial manner, 
upon the macadam plan, on the streets 
and alleys. The material used in 
macadamizing the streets and alleys is 
a very durable, light colored lime- 
stone, which after use becoming upon 
the surface nearly solid, with but few 
breaks. This paving is as cheap as it 
is durable, as the stone from which it 
is constructed exists in inexhaustible 
supply within a few miles of the city. 
The sidewalk paving, for the greater 
part, is done wdtk brick made in the 
vicinity of the city, and Avhich is of 
very superior cpiality, the clay soil 
north, east and west of the city being 
finely adapted to brick-making, the 
brick being ecpially valuable for build- 
ing purposes as for paving, and being 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



77 



purchasable at comparatively very 
low prices. 

New Albany has a system of pub- 
lic market liouses, built at the expense 
of the city, and rented to butchers, 
hucksters, gardeners, fruitgrowers and 
dealers and others, at low rates. 
These are a great public convenience, 
and they are kept scrupulously clean 
by a market-master elected by the city 
council. All these market houses are 
inclosed, with broad porches over- 
hanging, and the floors and walks 
paved with brick. There are two of 
these public markets in the city, in 
which daily markets are held, and as 
a result New Albany is daily supplied 
with the best marketing the rich and 
highly cultivated country surrounding 
it can provide. This keeps the price 
of living down to comparatively cheap 
rates. 

New Albany leads all the cities of 
Indiana in the number and extent of 
her manufactories, the amount of cap- 
ital invested and the number of per- 
sons employed. The W. C. DePauw 
Company Glass Works, for the manu- 
facture of plate glass, window glass, 
fruit jars and bottles, is the largest 
establishment of the kind in the 
United States, employing over 1,500 
persons, and Avith a capital of $1,500,- 
000. Immense Woolen Mills, Cotton 
Mills, Hosiery Mills, Cotton Batting 
Mills, Structural Iron and Rail Mills, 
Merchant and Bridge Iron Mills, 
Railroad Axle and Car Iron Mills and 
Forge Works, Stove Works, Furniture 
Factories, Machine Works and Found- 



ries, Brass Foundries, Steam Boiler 
and Sheet Iron Works, Flour Mills, 
Breweries, Tanneries, Planing Mills 
and Sash, Door and Blind Factories, 
Smitheries, Carriage and Wagon Facto- 
ries, Broom Factories, Spice Mills, Fer- 
tilizer and Glue Factories, Car Works 
and Railroad Machine Shops, Saw 
Mills, Bent Wood Works, Handle 
Works, Marble Works, all these are 
among her industries, employing in 
the aggregate over 5,000 persons and 
with an aggregated capital of about 
$10,000,000. The annual output of 
these factories is, in value, not far 
from $20,000,000. 

The mercantile, mechanical, grain, 
live stock and produce business of the 
city is very largely represented in es- 
taMishments, capital and employes, 
the city being in her material interests 
exceedingly prosperous and with an 
outlook of rapid growth in popula- 
tion and wealth in the future. 

While New Albany makes no pre- 
tensions to special prominence as a 
wholesale market, her citizens, never- 
theless, need not be ashamed of the 
showing she can make in this depart- 
ment of business. Her wholesale 
merchants are gentlemen of enterprise, 
wealth, and liberality, and all of them 
cany large stocks, excellently assorted, 
for the trade of the surrounding coun- 
try, and sell goods to merchants of In- 
diana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Ten- 
nessee, and Kentucky. There are in 
the city wholesale establishments in 
dry goods, notions and variety goods, 
millinery goods, hats, caps and furs, 



78 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



boots and shoes, groceries, drugs, 
books and stationery, hardware and 
cutlery, stoves, tin, copper and sheet 
iron ware, iron and nails, railroad sup- 
plies, crockery and glassware, house 
furnishings, confectionery goods, wines 
and liquors, cigars and tobacco, furni- 
ture, salt, agricultural implements and 
seeds, saddlery and harness, provisions 
and produce, and all these are now do- 
ing a prosperous business. Their aggre- 
gate sales will amount to not far from 
ten millions of dollars per year. There 
are a number of as elegant and well- 
supplied retail dry goods, drug, va- 
riety, millinery, jewelry, books and 
stationery, boot and shoe, hat and cap, 
and grocery and provision stores, in 
New Albany as can be found in any 
city of equal population, and these 
will sell annually not far from five 
millions of dollars of goods. 

Very few cities of equal proportion 
can boast of more or better mechanics, 
engaged in more varieties of occupa- 
tion, than New Albany. All the 
trades are fully represented here, and 
all are flourishing. There is probably 
nut a city in the country of even one- 
third more population, that can show 
as many mechanics and laboring men 
owning their own houses. This is a 
notable feature of the city, and one 
that is the subject of frequent and 
gratifying reference. It speaks more 
loudly in favor of New Albany as a 
desirable residence for industrious and 
frugal mechanics and laborers than 
anything we could write. There are 
many large real estate dealers in the 



city who will sell desirable homes for 
mechanics and laboring men at low 
figures, and on monthly or annual 
payments in small sums. 

The advantages New Albany pos- 
sesses in being a county seat are not 
the least of her many advantages ; as 
this alone brings to the city daily, peo- 
ple from all parts of the county, com- 
pels the holding here of all the courts, 
and the location in the city of all the 
county offices and county officers. The 
county offices are all upon the first floor 
of the magnificent court house, all of 
them fire-proof, and provided with 
vaults in which to keep the county and 
court records in safety. The local legis- 
lation of the county is transacted by a 
board of three county commissioners, 
the meetings of which convene on the 
first Mondays in December, March, 
June and September. The county 
officers are as follows : Clerk, Henry 
R. W. Meyer; Auditor, Robert W. 
Morris; Treasurer, Levi H. Scott; 
Sheriff, Jacob Loesch ; Recorder, 
Charles W. Schindler ; Assessor, Wil- 
liam D. Richardson ; Coroner, Dr. 
Stair. The Township Trustee, John 
Halm, who is also Township Libra- 
rian and Poor Overseer, has his office 
in the court house. All transactions 
relating to the county finances, the 
courts, taxes, roads, etc., are carried 
on by the county officials at the 
county seat. It will therefore, be 
seen that New Albany gains advan- 
tages as the county seat which the 
city would not otherwise possess. 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



79 



It may not be improper in this 
place to mention one fact that is 
greatly to the credit and advantage 
of New Albany. When the Scrib- 
ners founded the city they provided 
most liberally for the endowment of 
a high school, churches, and other 
moral and enlightened enterprises. 
Descended from good families them- 
selves, they highly prized the advan- 
tages of good society — society con- 
trolled by high moral purposes, and 
enlightened and refined by educa- 
tion and the influences of the highest 
civilization. Their efforts to estab- 
lish good society in New Albany 
were crowned with signal success 
and their good works live after them 
to bless and forever keep green their 
memory. New Albany, since its 
first settlement, has been distin- 
guished for the morality and refine- 
ment of its citizens, and for the re- 
ligious and educational advantages 
it offers those who come to settle in 
it. 

The third year after the town was 
laid out, a church was started; not 
in a splendid building, with sky- 
piercing spire, frescoed walls and 
grand organ, but in an humble cabin 
of logs, and from this sanctuary of 
the grand old forests, the song of 
praise to God was raised which has 
never died out in New Albany. This 
was a Methodist church, dedicated 
November 25, 1817, and in December 
of the same year the Ffrst Presby- 
terian church of New Albany was or- 
ganised. It was thus that society in 



this city was first shaped in its tastes, 
its refinement and geniality ; and 
with the crowning glories of religion, 
and the highest morals to bless it, 
has continued ever since. And this 
is general throughout the city, in- 
stead of being exceptional to neigh- 
borhoods, as in most cities. The ex- 
cellent society at New Albany will 
always continue to be one among its 
chief attractions. 

The city government is adminis- 
tered by a Mayor and Board of Com- 
mon Council. The city is divided 
into six wards of nearly equal popu- 
lation and each ward is entitled to 
two members of the Common Coun- 
cil. One half the Common Council 
is elected annually ; while the Mayor, 
Clerk, Treasurer, and Marshal are 
elected every two years. The pres- 
ent officers of the city are as follows : 
Mayor, Hon. John J. Richards; 
Treasurer, Samuel M. Weir; Clerk, 
Robert Kraft; Marshal, Louis Hippie, 
Attorney, Charles D. Kelso ; Engi- 
neer, Frank M. Sweeney ; Chief En- 
gineer Fire Department, Charles Mat- 
thews. The Council meets on the first 
and third Mondays of each month 
and the Mayor is the president of the 
body. The Council annually elects 
twelve policemen and one chief of 
police to guard the city and bring vio- 
lators of its ordinances to justice. The 
City Marshal has police and constabu- 
lary powers, and is the superior police 
officer of the city. There is a police 
c<nnt for the administration of munic- 
ipal justice, of which his Honor, the 



80 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



Mayor, is the judge, and which meets 
daily, except Sunday, at nine o'clock 
in the forenoon. The city also has a 
Board of Health, a Board of School 
Trustees, and three Justices of the 
Peace. 

The banking facilities of New Al- 
bany are ample, as the following con- 
solidated statement of the four Na- 
tional banks of the city on the loth 
day of October, 1888, will show : 

Resources. — Loans and discounts, 
$1,270,612.15 ; overdrafts, secured 
and unsecured, $5,550,041; U.S. bonds 
to secure circulation, $200,000; other 
stocks, bonds and mortgages, $41,- 
707.78 ; due from approved reserve 
agents, $117,646.74; due from other 
National banks, $36,479.95 ; due from 
State banks and bankers, $12,766.51; 
real estate, furniture and fixtures, 
$48,000 ; current expenses and taxes 
paid, $3,622.79 ; checks and other 
cash items, $1,037.35; premiums 
paid, $2,593.75 ; bills of other banks 
$3,060 ; fractional paper currency, 
nickels and cents, $99.18; specie, 
$30,831.80 ; legal tender notes, $57,- 
203 ; redemption fund with U. S. 
Treasurer, 5 per cent, of circulation, 
$9,000. Total resources, $1,846,- 
211.04. 

Liabilities. — Capital stock paid in, 
$700,000; surplus fund, $210,000; 
undivided profits, $116,509.71; Na- 
tional Bank notes outstanding, $1S0,- 
000 ; dividends unpaid, $1,245 ; indi- 
vidual deposits subject to check, 
$610,342.09; demand certificates of 
deposit, $1,993.70; due to other Na- 



tional banks, $20,115.70 ; due to State 
banks and bankers, $6,004.84. Total 
liabilities, $1,845,211.04. 

The New Albany Banking Com- 
pany, operating under State laws, and 
having no circulation, has a capital of 
$400,000 and does a very large bank- 
ing business, being one among the 
oldest and most substantial banking 
houses in the city. It was formerly 
the Bank of Salem and was organized 
and principally owned for many years 
by the late Hon. W. C. DePauw. 

The public buildings of New Al- 
bany are the county court house, a 
magnificent structure in the Corinthian 
style of architecture, costing $130,000; 
the NeAV Albany opera house is a 
fine structure, costing $90,000 ; the 
IT. S. post office and court house, the 
most attractive in its architecture of 
any Federal building in Indiana, and 
costing $106,000 ; the city hall, an 
attractive building, in which are the 
city offices, council chamber and police 
stations ; elegant passenger and freight 
depots of the J. M. & I. railroad, and 
fine passenger depots and offices of 
the L. E. & St. L. railroad, the O. <fc 
M. railroad, the K. &. I. Bridge Daisy 
railroad, and the L., N. «fe A. & C. 
railroad. There are a number of pub- 
lic halls, including the Casino thea- 
tre, The People's theatre, Turner Hall, 
Maennerchor Hall and Vernia's Hall. 
There are besides these, fine halls for 
the Masonic Fraternity, Odd Fellows, 
Knights of Pythias, Knights and 
Ladies of Honor, and other secret 
benevolent orders. 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



81 



Among the charitable institutions 
" of the city are "The Associated Char- 
ities," a grand institution including a 
pharmacy, hospital, lodging rooms, 
lunch rooms, etc., for the poor, who 
may be ill or in want. This grand 
charity was founded by the late Hon. 
Washington C. DePauw, one of Indi- 
ana's most noted and liberal Christian 
philanthropists, and its endowment 
was provided for in his will. Mr. 
DePauw's memory will be kept in 
the hearts of the citizens of New Al- 
bany, and they will always refer with 
pride to the fact that lie was a citizen 
of this city. During his useful life 
he was always eminently a wise and 
liberal philanthropist, and the "Asso- 
ciated Charities" of New Albany, 
with its comfortable appointments of 
cleanly rooms, parlors, reading and 
sitting rooms, bath rooms, and other 
conveniences, is only a moiety of his 
benevolent work in New Albany. 
When he died, the churches, the poor, 
the city lost a true friend. He left 
by will $1,500,000 to DePauw Uni- 
versity and over half a million to 
other charities of the M. E. church. 

The Old Ladies' Home is an insti- 
tution founded by Mr. William S. 
Culbertson, one of New Albany's mil- 
lionaire citizens. It is a splendid 
building in a fine location on Main 
street, built, furnished and endowed 
by Mr. Culbertson as a home for 
worthy widows. It is an honor to 
the city — an honor to its founder and 
supporter. 

Cornelia Memorial Orphan's Home, 



on Kin Avenue, also built by Mr. W. 
S. Culbertson. It is a large and ele- 
gant building, well furnished and 
under control of a Board of Mana- 
gers. The county pays to this insti- 
tution about $3,000 per year, to cover 
the board of the inmates, at a nominal 
sum per week each. 

The County Asylum is a large and 
fine two-story brick building, located 
upon a farm of two hundred and 
forty acres, two miles north of the 
city. The building has a large num- 
ber of rooms, all well furnished and 
kept scrupulously clean. A large 
dining room and cook room are 
attached, and there are bath rooms 
for both males and females. A large 
frame building near by is used as an 
asylum for the incurably insane. The 
residence of the Superintendent and 
his family is separate from the Asylum 
buildings. At this institution, the 
poor find asylum and support, the 
entire expense being borne by the 
county, the money for the purpose 
being raised by taxation. An average 
of about sixty persons are constant 
inmates of this institution. 

The county jail and police station 
house are the only penal institutions 
of the city or county. The jail is 
attached to a fine resideuce building, 
which is occupied by the sheriff of 
the county, who is also the jailer. 

It has long been the pride and 
boast of the citizens of New Albany, 
that this city has the best and most 
successful system of public free schools 
of any city in Indiana. Their claim 



82 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



in this regard is well founded, as the 
carefully collated official statistics of 
the schools will show. There are in the 
city ten elegant and very large brick 
school buildings, and two frame school 
buildings. The value of these build, 
ings is about $175,000, and they inr- 
nish accommodations for fully three 
thousand pupils. Ten of the build- 
ings are used for the primary, inter- 
mediate and grammar schools, and one 
as a high school for whites, and one as 
a high school for colored pupils. The 
system of grading is a most perfect 
one, and works admirably and effi- 
ciently. Tuition is absolutely free in 
all departments, and the pupils who 
pass all the grades and graduate 
through the High School, receive a 
thorough English and scientific educa- 
tion, and are competent for any 
department of business, or for study 
for any of the professions. The city 
has three school-houses for the colored 
inhabitants of the city, who have the 
same rights to admission into their 
own schools as the whites Lave into 
theirs — the same law governing both. 
Fifty-five white and five colored teach- 
ers are employed in these public 
schools, while the average attendance 
of pupils is about 2,800. The annual 
cost of the schools is not far from 
$55,000, and the total number of 
school children in the city entitled to 
the privileges of the schools is 8,130. 
The schools are managed by a Board 
of three School Trustees, elected by 
the City Council, which secures to 
them permanency and the best educa- 



tors in the way of teachers. These 
public schools afford the poor man, 
the mechanic, laborer, and small 
dealer or trader, superior facilities for 
giving their children an excellent edu- 
cation free of all expense, so that no 
man who lives in New Albany can 
have the least excuse for permitting 
his sons and (laughters to grow up 
in ignorance. It is doubtful if a 
better system of public free schools 
can be found in any section of the 
Union than the one now in opera- 
tion, with the most eminent success, 
at New Albany. 

DePauw College for Young Ladies, 
is the name of an institution that is 
the property of the Indiana Conference 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
This college occupies one of the most 
pleasant and commanding situations in 
the most beautiful portion of the city 
of New Albany. This city has long 
enjoyed a high reputation for its 
educational advantages, as well as for 
the hi<xh moral and religious tone of 
its inhabitants. It is noted for its 
healthfulness, and is accessible in all 
directions by various railroads and by 
the Ohio river. The College building, 
originally erected for a ladies' boarding 
school, has been enlarged and im- 
proved within the past few years at 
an expense of nearly $20,000. 

St. Mary's Female Academy is a 
first-class institution, under the care of 
the Sisters of St. Francis (Catholic). 
The building is one among the largest 
and best adapted educational edifices 
in the State, having accommodations 




W . C DE PAU W. 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



85 



for 800 pupils. All the branches of 
a thorough and accomplished educa- 
tion are taught, including music, the 
modern languages, painting, needle- 
work, flowers, etc. There is probably 
no better Catholic academy in the 
West than St. Mary's, and it is the 
pride of the Catholics of southern 
Indiana. 

Besides those schools already named, 
there are five Catholic parochial 
schools; a German Protestant parochial 
school; and seven private schools. 
Add these private and parochial 
schools, colleges and academies to the 
grand system of public free schools, 
and it will readily be seen that the 
educational advantages of New Albany 
are unrivaled. 

WASHINGTON C. DEPAUW. 
In the space allowed by the plan 
of this work it is impossible to do 
justice to the memory of this re- 
markable man. Yet we have 
decided that it is appropriate that a 
record of the salient points of his life 
should be made in the historical por- 
tion of this volume. 

Washington Charles DePauw was 
born in Salem, Washington county, 
Ind., on the 4th day of January, 1822. 
As the name indicates Mr. DePauw 
was a descendant from a noble French 
family; his great grandfather, Corne- 
lius, having been private reader to 
Frederick II., of Prussia, and author 
of several works of note. 

Charles DePauw, the grandfather of 
W. C. DePauw, was horn at the city 
of Ghent, in French Flanders. When 



he arrived at a proper age he was sent 
to Paris to complete his education and 
there became acquainted with La Fay- 
ette. At that time the struggle for 
American independence was just be- 
ginning. He became infatuated with 
the American cause, joined his fortunes 
with those of La Fayette and sailed 
with that renowned commander to this 
country. He served throughout the 
war, and by the close, became so 
thoroughly imbued with a love for 
America that he sought a wife in 
Virginia; thence he removed with the 
first tide of emigration to the Blue 
Grass regions of Kentucky. 

In that State, General John DePauw, 
the father of W. C. DePauw, was 
born. On arriving at man's estate he 
removed from Kentucky to Washing- 
ton county, Indiana. As an agent for 
the county, he surveyed, platted and 
sold the lots in Salem, and purchased 
four acres of the high ground on the 
west side, upon which the family 
mansion was erected. 

He was, by profession, an attorney - 
at-law. and he became a judge. He 
was also a general of militia. No 
man in his day enjoyed more of 
the confidence and good-Avill of his 
fellow-men than General John De- 
Pauw. 

His wife, whose maiden name was 
Elizabeth Batist (the mother of W. C. 
DePauw), was a woman of superior 
mind and a strong and vigorous con- 
stitution. She died in 1878, at the 
advanced age of ninety-three years. 

At the age of sixteen, Mr. DePauw 



86 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



was thrown upon Lis own resources 
by the death of his father. He had 
only the meager education which that 
period, and the surrounding circum- 
stances would allow his parents to 
give; but, though young, he desired 
to be independent of friends and 
relatives, and accordingly set to work. 
He worked for two dollars a week, 
and when that was wanting he worked 
for nothing, rather than be idle. That 
energy and industry, allied with char- 
acter and ability bring friends, proved 
true in his case. Dr. Elijah Newland, 
the leading physician of Salem, became 
interested in the young man and 
through him, at the age of nineteen 
he entered the office of the County 
Clerk, and by his energy and faithful- 
ness he gained confidence and soon 
had virtual control of the office. 
When he attained his majority he was 
elected clerk of Washington county 
without opposition ; to this office was 
joined by the action of the State Legis- 
lature, that of Auditor. Mr. DePauw 
filled both of these positions until 
close application and the consequent 
mental strain, impaired his health; 
after several prostrations and through 
fear of apoplexy, he acted on the 
advice of his physicians and gave up 
his sedentary pursuits ; his extraordi- 
nary memory, quick but accurate 
judgment and clear mental faculties 
fitted him for a successful life. 

His early business career was like 
his political one ; he was true 
and faithful and constantly gained 
friends. His first investment was in a 



saw and grist mill, and this proving 
successful he added mill after mill; 
with this business he combined farm- 
ing, merchandising and banking, at 
the same time investing largely iu the 
grain trade. It is hardly necessary to 
state that he was fortunate in each 
investment; and his means rapidly 
increased until, at the breaking out of 
the war he had a large mercantile 
interest and two well-established 
banks. He was at the same time one 
of the largest grain dealers in the 
State of Indiana, and his knowledge 
of this trade, and his command of 
means rendered him able to materially 
assist in furnishing the Government 
with supplies. His patriotism and 
confidence in the success of the Union 
armies were such that he also invested 
a large amount in Government securi- 
ties. Here again he was successful, 
and at the close of the war had 
materially augmented his already 
laro-e fortune. 

Mr. DePauw used his wealth freely 
to encourage manufactures and to 
build up the city of New Albany ; he 
made many improvements, and was 
largely interested in the rolling mills 
and iron foundries in that city. He 
became proprietor of DePauw's Amer- 
ican Plate Glass Works, at the present 
one of the largest and most important 
in the world. It is a new and valu- 
able industry and the interests of our 
country require that it should have 
reached the success it has; it is a 
National concern that American glass 
should surpass iu quality and take the 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



87 



place of the French article in the 
markets of the world. 

Mr. DePauw did everything in his 
] lower, while living, to promote this 
great end, and at present everything 
points to the success of the undertak- 
ing. He had, before his death, about 
two millions of dollars invested in 
manufacturing enterprises in the city 
of New Albany. 

At the death of Mr. DePauw, his 
sons, Newland T. and Charles W. 
DePauw, succeeded to the places held 
by their father in the manufacturing 
enterprises of New Albany, Which 
positions they fill with rare executive 
ability, combined with a thorotigh 
business training given them by their 
father. Mr. W. C. DePauw took but 
little part in State affairs for main- 
years, having devoted the latter part 
of his life to his business and home 
interests, to the advancement of edu- 
cation and religion. He was often 
forced to decline positions which his 
party were ready to give him, and in 
1872 he was assured by many promi- 
nent Democrats that the nomination 
for Governor was at his disposal. 

In the Convention he Avas nomi- 
nated for Lieutenant Governor. In 
older to show the purposes and char- 
acter of the man, let us cpiote a few 
words from his letter, declining the 
nomination. "My early business life 
was spent in an intensely earnest 
struggle for success as a manufacturer, 
grain dealer and banker. Since then. 
I have found full work in endeavor- 
ing to assist in promoting the relig- 



ious, benevolent and educational 
advantages of Indiana, and in helping 
to extend those advantages to the 
south and west. Hence I have neither 
the time nor inclination for politics. In 
these chosen fields of labor I find con- 
genial spirits, whom I love and under- 
stand. My long experience gives me 
hope that I may accomplish some- 
thing, perhaps much, for religion and 
humanity." 

These are noble words and was a 
true index to Mr. DePauw's character. 
He expended thousands of dollars in 
building churches and endowing col- 
leges and benevolent institutions 
throughout this, and the neighboring 
States ; he assisted many worthy 
young men to obtain an education, 
and founded and kept in operation 
DePauw College, a Seminary of a high 
order, for young ladies at New 
Albany. 

He was for many years a trustee of 
the State University at Bloomington, 
Indiana, and was, later, a trustee of 
the Indiana Asbury University, the 
leading Methodist College of the West. 
He was long a member of the Meth- 
odist church and served as a delegate 
of the Indiana conference at the gen- 
eral conferences of that church in 
1872 and IS 70. He was a member of 
the Masonic and Odd Fellows' orders 
and was loved and respected by both. 
The part of his life most satisfactory 
to himself is that which was spent in 
his work for Christ in the church, in 
the Sunday school, in the prayer 



88 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



meeting, and in the everyday walks 
of his life. 

He was, throughout his life, a thor- 
ough business man, full of honesty 
and integrity. He sought a fortune 
within himself and found it in an 
earnest will and vast industry. He 
was eminently a self-made man, and 
stands out pre-eminently to-day, as one 
who, amid the cares of business, pre- 
served his reputation for honesty, 
integrity and morality; who never 
neglected the cause of religion, but 
valued it until the day of his death 
above all others. 

He was a good citizen as well as a 
successful business man. He was a 
devoted husband and affectionate 
father, and, in fact, faithfully dis- 
charged all the duties of the various 
stations in life which he was called to 
fill. He was a man of unbounded 
charity, and the benefactions provided 
in his last will and testament will 
endure for all coming generations. 
To DePauw University, at Green- 
castle, Ind., his bequests will aggregate 
$1,000,000 to $2,000,000, placing the 
institution in the list with the most 
noted educational establishments of 
America. 

To the M. E. Church Extension 
Society he bequeathed $100,000, and 
to the Missionary Society of the M. E. 
Church he gave $100,000. He 
bequeathed DePauw College for Young 
Women, at New Albany, to the Indiana 
Conference of the M. E. Church, to be 
used as an educational institution, or 
as a home for the worn-out ministers 



of the M. E. Church and their widows, 
setting apart a sum sufficient to sup- 
port it. 

He fouuded and endowed "The 
United Charities," at New Albany, 
which is a hospital, a pharmacy, and a 
temporary home for the worthy poor 
and afflicted. 

He gave a large sum to the Y. M. 
C. A., of New Albany, and to the State 
Association, and bequeathed $10,000 
to Indiana M. E. Conference Preachers 1 
Aid Society, giving it $20,000 during 
his life. His total charities and edu- 
cational bequests will aggregate 
$2,000,000. 

Of Washington C. DePauw it can 
be well and truthfully said, " He rests 
from his labors, and his works do fol- 
low him. 1 ' His memory will be long 
held in sweet remembrance by the 
poor of New Albany, to whom his 
life was a benediction. 

What nobler monument can a man 
have, than to be enshrined in the 
hearts of his neighbors and the com- 
munity he lived to bless? Such is the 
monument wherein lies the grand and 
good deeds of this grand aud good 
man, and where they will live in 
perennial freshness forever. Hequiescat 
in pace. 

New Albany may justly be termed 
the city of churches. Ever since the 
city was founded, it has been dis- 
tinguished for the religious character 
of its citizens and its church privileges. 
The first religious meeting held in the 
city was under the auspices of the 
Methodists. It was held in a little 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



89 



log cabin, in which spruce beer and 
ginger cakes were sold by a widow 
woman named Reynolds, and the 
meeting was brought about in a very 
singular manner. A gentleman named 
Elam Genung started out one moon- 
light evening, after the day's labor had 
ended, to take a walk in the forest, in 
the midst of which the few cabins that 
then constituted the town were built. 
He heard the widow lady, who kept 
the cake and beer shop, singing a (to 
him) familiar religious hymn. He 
was attracted by her sweet voice to the 
oal »in, and as he entered it she ceased 
singing. He requested her to repeat 
the hymn, and as she did so joined 
Avith her in sin^ino; it. At its close 
he asked her if she Avas a church mem- 
ber. She replied she had been in 
the East, before she came to Indiana 
Territory, a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. "I, too, Avas a 
Methodist before I came here," replied 
Genung, '• let us pray." The singing 
had drawn a dozen or more of the 
settlers to the cabin and had touched 
eA r ery heart by its sweet tenderness, 
waking memories of homes far away 
in the East, and religious privileges 
that were held dear and sacred, and 
when prayer Avas proposed all entered 
the cabin and there, under the giant 
trees, the silver moon pouring down a 
flood of mellow light OA r er the scene, 
the first public prayer Avas offered in 
New Albany. One Avho Avas preseni 
at that meeting says of it : " It Avas an 
occasion to be remembered for a long 
lifetime, for God came down among us 



in his first temples, the trees, and all 
were blessed." There is but one sur- 
vivor of that first religious meeting: in 
New Albany, and her feet are still 
traveling the "straight and narrow 
pathway" she that night, now more 
than seventy years ago, found it so 
pleasant to Avalk in. At the close of 
this meeting, another was announced 
for the night of the same day in the 
following Aveek. At that meeting a 
Methodist class was formed, and this 
continued to meet until June 20, 1817, 
when the Methodist Episcopal Church 
was regularly organized in New 
Albany, by Rev. John Shrader, and 
the first sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
per administered by him in a hotel, 
kept by a widow lady named Hannah 
Ruff. On November 25, 1817, the 
first Methodist church in the town was 
dedicated ' by Rev. John Shrader. 
There are now in the city eight Metho- 
dist church buildings, two of them 
Methodist Missions. The next church 
organized here was the First Presby- 
terian. The organization Avas effected 
on the 7th of December, 1817, Avith nine 
members. The first meeting was held 
in Mrs. Scribner's residence, being 
noAv a portion of what is the Carpenter 
Hotel — formerly High Street House. 
The first communion of the Presby- 
terian Church, of New Albany, was 
selemnized on the day of organization, 
Rev. D. C. Banks officiatins: at the 
ceremony. The first baptism solem- 
nized in New Albany was that of the 
infant daughter of Dr. Asahel and 
Elizabeth Clap}), Lucinda Ann, yet 



90 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 






living in this city, and the widow of 
Mr. W. C. Shipman, deceased. There 
are now in New Albany, three Presby. 
terian churches and two Presbyterian 
Mission churches. The next religious 
society organized in the city was the 
Baptist Church, the organization taking 
place, as near as we can learn, in the 
autumn of 1821. From this brief 
sketch it will be seen that the pioneers 
of New Albany were hardly installed 
in their log cabins when they com- 
menced the organization of churches. 
This early religious work gave a moral 
and Christian tone to society in the 
then village which has "grown Avith 
its growth and strengthened with its 
strength." Now, New Albany can 
boast of nearly thirty churches, and in 
the superior cultivation, and moral 
and religious character of her society 
is not surpassed by any city of 
America. These considerations are of 
importance to all who may desire to 
locate in a growing city, where church 
privileges and educational advantages, 
as well as business facilities, are offered 
them. 

The following embraces a full list 
of the several religious denominations 
of the city, and the number of church 
edifices : Presbyterian, three regular 
and two mission churches, valued at 
$125,000. Methodists (white), five 
regular; one German, two mission, 
colored, two ; property of all valued 
at $175,000. Baptists (white), one 
colored, two; value of property, $40, 
000. Protestant Episcopal, one, val- 
ued at $20,000. Lutheran-German 



Evangelicals, with property valued 
at $40,000. Catholic, two large 
churches, one German, the other Irish, 
and with property valued at $150,000. 
Christian churches, two, valued at 
$35,000. Universalist church, valued 
at $15,000. There is a society of 
Spiritualists in the city, that meets in 
one of the public halls. There is also 
a small society of Second Adventists. 
The Methodists are erecting a new 
church, to be called Trinity, to cost 
$25,000. 

Every regular church and every 
mission church in the city of New Al- 
bany has a Sunday school. Some of 
these schools have from three hundred 
to four hundred and fifty pupils en- 
rolled. There is probably no city of 
ecpual population, west of the Alle- 
ghany mountains, that has as many 
children attending Sunday schools as 
New Albany. The first school was 
organized here iu the early part of 
1818, three years after the pioneer 
families moved into the then village 
of not over twenty-five cabins, by Rev. 
Mr. Reed, a Presbyterian missionary, 
and Mrs. Austin, a Methodist, The 
moral effect of these Sunday schools 
upon the youth of this city has been 
most marked ; and to-day it can be 
honestly boasted (and gratefully), 
that there is less immorality or in- 
ebriety in the town than is found in 
other cities. Many of the most prom- 
inent and wealthy citizens of the city 
are regular workers in the Sunday' 
school cause. 

The Young Men's Christian As- 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



91 



sociation, of New Albany, is an honor 
to the city. It was organized on the 
9th of June, 1871, incorporated on the 
17th of October, 1871, and now has 
an active membership of one hundred 
and fifty. The Association has a fine 
library, a public reading room in one 
amono- the best halls in the city, re- 
ceives many of the leading daily and 
weekly newspapers of the country, and 
many of the monthlies of any note in 
the United States and Great Britain. 
The Association is doing a noble work, 
and its attractive hall is daily \ isited 
by tlu j young of both sexes. The 
reading room will compare favorably 
with any in the country, in its furnish- 
ing, library and other interior arrange- 
ments. 

One of the chief advantages New 
Albany will always maintain as a place 
fin' manufacturing, is her near- 
ness TO THE COAL FIELDS OP SOUTHERN 
Indiana. The Louisville, Evansville 
A: St. Louis Air Line railway, which 
has its eastern terminus in this city, 
reaches the southern Indiana coal- 
fields at a distance of only fifty miles 
from New Albany. The road trav- 
erses the center of the fields a distance 
of about forty miles, and throughout 
almost its entire distance this coal-field 
will average ten miles in width. The 
block coal, in this field, is pronounced 
by iron-masters equal to the best in 
the world for iron smelting, and all 
purposes of iron manufacture. The 
block coal of Western Indiana is now 
used in every iron furnace in Indiana, 
and in the Bessemer Steel works at 



Cleveland, Ohio, Chicago and St. 
Louis, and in all the iron works of 
Indianapolis and other Indiana cities. 
Cincinnati is also successfully using the 
Indiana block coal, in her manufac- 
tories, in competition with the noted 
Mahoning and Hocking Valley coals 
and the best Pennsylvania coals. Prof. 
Cox and Prof. Foster, former State 
Geologists, and Prof. Delafontaine, the 
eminent Swiss o-eoloo'ist, now residing 
at Chicago, after the most critical 
examination and careful analysis, pro- 
nounced these block coals the best in 
America, and equal in every respect, 
to the best variety of Welsh coal. 
Prof. Foster says : " To the purity of 
splint c al it unites all the softness and 
combustibility of wood, and the effects 
] nod need by it in the blast furnace, 
either as to the quality or quantity of 
iron, far exceeds anything in the man- 
ufacture of that metal with charcoal." 
Prof. Cox says : " Without fear of con- 
tradiction, I pronounce the block coal, 
of Indiana, flie best mineral fuel yet 
known to the world, for the manu- 
facture of pig metal, bar iron, or steel. 
In the blast furnace it produces a 
metal in every respect equal to the 
best charcoal iron made from the same 
ores. In the puddling furnace a less 
quantity of block coal is required 
than of the best Pittsburg coals, to a 
run of bar or wrought iron. The bars 
are brought off in a shorter space of 
time, and the quality of the iron is 
1 letter." Of the Staab and Priest 
veins < >f block coal, that are run over 
by the Louisville, Evansville <fc St. 



92 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



Louis Air Line railway, Prof. Dela- 
fontaine says : "These block coals, we 
know from experience, when tested in 
the blast furnace, have all the qualities 
of charcoal as a reducing agent. Two 
and a half tons of coal are required to 
make a ton of iron. They are not 
quite as strong in fixed carbon as the 
Mahoning or the Shenango coals, but 
they produce a more highly esteemed 
pig metal. Compared with the English 
coals of Pontypool, Bedwas and Ebbon 
Yale, the amount of phosphoric acid 
was far greater in eveiy instance ; and 
while, in the English coals, there was 
a notable peicentage of sulphur, in the 
Staab coal there was an entire absence. 
Comparing these results with the 
amount of phosphoric acid contained 
in the ashes of elm, oak and apple- 
tree wood, the result is that while the 
Staab coal contains .03 percent of this 
deleterious ingredient, those wood 
ashes contain all the way from 4.19 to 
9.61 per cent. Thus, it will be seen 
that there are coals in the Indiana 
fields which are free from the element 
of phosphorus, so deleterious to iron 
making, than charcoal itself. 11 Here 
are the highest authorities establishing 
the superiority of these block coals 
over all others for the purposes of iron 
manufacture. These block coals are 
first reached by the Louisville, Evans- 
ville & St. Louis Air Line railway, at 
a distance of sixty -five miles from New 
Albany, and can be laid down in the 
manufactories of New Albany very 
cheaply. Within this same southern 
Indiana coal zone, the very best cannel 



and bituminous coals also abound in 
inexhaustible supply. These coals are 
all superior for general manufacturing 
purposes, for making steam, and 
domestic use. They are all reached 
at distances of fifty to eighty-five 
miles from New Albany, and are 
traversed by the Louisville, Evansville 
& St. Louis Air Line railway. 

Edwardsville, Georgetown town- 
ship, on the New Albany and Cory- 
don turnpike, five miles west of New 
Albany. It has a store and several 
neat residences. The tunnel of the 
L. E. & St. L. railroad through the 
Silver Hills, passes under Edwards- 
ville. This tunnel is 4,372 feet in 
length, being the longest railroad tun- 
nel in Indiana. From the summit of 
the "Silver Hills 11 at this town a magnifi- 
cent view of one of the tines) natural 
landscapes in the State is obtained. 
The town has excellent schools. 

When the first pioneers came into 
the territory now embraced in Floyd 
county in 1804, they found the country 
covered with a dense growth of im- 
mense forest trees. There were also 
many cane-brakes, such as are now 
found in Arkansas and other southern 
States. Hears, panthers, wolves, deep, 
wild turkeys, wildcats and almost 
equally wild Indians were numerous, 
and these pioneers were subject to 
frequent alarms. But three counties 
had then been organized in the terri- 
tory of Indiana, and the savage Indian 
ranged at will through the almost un- 
broken forests and wide spreading 
prairies. Often were the hardy pio- 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



93 



neers surprised and alarmed by these 
wild Red Men, and. many of the first 

settlers fell victims to the tomahawk 
and scalping- knife of these wil\ and 
inveterate foes of the white man. 
These alarms and slaughters were fre- 
quent in all parts of Iudiana until after 
the close of the war <>f 1812 between 
the United States and Great Britain ; 
the Indians always being the allies of 
the British against this country, and 
not unfrequently being incited to the 
most terrible deeds of blood and car- 
nage against the American frontier set- 
tlers by the British officers of the army 
and the hired agents of that Govern- 
ment. But these days of slaughter 
have passed. The Indian tribes 
that formerly inhabited Indiana and 
made it their hunting grounds have 
melted away before the advancing 
civilization and the unparalleled en- 
ergy of the nineteenth century ; and 
the remnant that yet survives the once 
proud and no less savage Shawanees, 
Piankeshaws, Miamis, Pottawattomies, 
Delawares and Wyandottes, who were 
once so terrible when upon the war 
path, have been pushed west to the 
base of the Rocky Mountains, where 
they now only linger until the advanc- 
ing flood of emigration gathers new 
force, when they will lie driven farther 
westward to where the setting sun 
bathes his golden glories in the Pacific 
ocean, and then disappear from this 
continent forever. The once favorite 
hunting grounds of these Bed Men are 
swept away; the mighty forests have 
fallen, and beautiful prosperous vil- 



lages, towns and cities, and cultivated 
farms, bearing in abundance the 
grains and fruits of the golden autumn 
have taken their place; the wilderness 
indeed now blossoms as the rose, and 
the hum of machinery and the busy 
notes of enterprising industry ring- 
out from thousands of manufacturing 
and mechanical establishments. The 
light birch bark canoe of the savage, 
no longer splits the rippling waves of 
the beautiful river, Ohio; but instead, 
those magnificent floating palaces, the 
western steamboats, bear over its 
waters the vast commerce of a mighty 
nation. The Indian trails and the 
buffalo paths have given place to the 
iron-ribbed railroads, where the loco- 
motive, with its long train of cars, 
sweeps with lightning speed to ready 
markets the bountiful products of our 
bounteous State. The wild whoop of 
Indian battle is hushed forever ; and 
w here it once sounded, now stand 
hundreds of churches, from which the 
voice of prayer and praise ascend ; and 
thousands of school houses, where 
tens of thousands of children meet to 
he taught in our free schools, and to 
lie imbued with a love of country, and 
that spirit of liberty which is equal 
rights to all, and which has made our 
happy, proud America the asylum for 
the oppressed of all lands, and which 
prepares Americans to give cordial 
welcome to all peoples who flee from 
tyranny to find a home under the 
Stai's and Stripes of this grand Union 
of Freemen. 



94 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



GEORGE A. BICKNELL was 
born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 
Oth, 1S17, and is a son of George A. 
and Emeline (Irglis) Bicknell ; the 
former a native of Massachusetts and 
the latter horn in New York. The 
elder Bicknell was a merchant in Phil- 
adelphia, where subject was reared 
and educated. 

He entered the University of Penn- 
sylvania, from which he was gradu- 
ated at the age of fourteen, having 
taken the regular classical and scien- 
tific course. He was immediately 
sent to New Haven Law School by 
his parents, where he remained one 
year. In the meantime, his father had 
removed to New York, and there the 
young man read law in the office of 
the late Seth P. Staples for several 
years. 

He was admitted to the bar when 
nineteen years of age, at Albany, N. 
Y., in January, 1830. 

He began practice immediately in 
New York city, where he continued 
some eight or ten years, when he was 
taken sick from business and over- 
study, being the attorney for the Del- 
aware <fc Hudson Canal Company. 
He then concluded to try fanning and 
came West. His father owned five 
hundred acres of land in Scott county, 
Indiana, and for live years he culti- 
vated it, or a part of it. He found it 
expensive and retired from the busi- 
ness. 

During this time he was elected 
Prosecuting Attorney for Scott county, 
and in 1850 was elected Circuit Pros- 



ecutor for Scott, Clark, Washington, 
Jackson, Orange, Harrison and Floyd 
counties ; in 1851 he removed from 
Scott to New Albany, and the next 
year he was elected Circuit Judge of 
the Judicial District, comprising the 
counties above named, and Crawford 
and Lawrence. This office he held 
continually for twenty-four years, the 
circuit being reduced in size in 1873. 

In 1876 he was elected to Congress, 
and was chairman of the committee on 
the Electoral count, a member of the 
committee on Foreign Affairs, and 
several other committees. He was. 
re-elected in 1878, and in 1881 was 
appointed Commissioner of Appeals 
in the Supreme Court of Indiana, at 
the same salary as the regular Judges 
— this kept him until 1885, since 
which time he has practiced his pro- 
fession, and held court for nearly all 
the circuit judges in southern Indi- 
ana. 

Judge Bicknell published law books 
which were well received by the legal 
fraternity. "BicknelFs Civil Prac- 
tice" and "Criminal Practice 11 have 
both gone through two editions. 

The Judge's ancestor, Zachary 
Bicknell, came from the south of 
England in 1032, in a colony, and set- 
tled at Weymouth, Mass. Judge 
Bicknell is eighth in the descent from 
Zachary Bicknell. The Bicknells 
were Swedes, and the name was 
spelled Becknill. About the year 
700 they came by sea to a place now, 
in southeastern Scotland, but then, 
part of an independent kingdom, and 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



9.5 



there is yet a hill there called "Beek- 
nill Hill." 

He was married in 1840, when 
twenty-three years of age, to Miss 
Elizabeth Richards, a daughter of 
Jesse Richards, Esq., of Batsto, New 
Jersey. She is still living. Four 
children of this marriage are still 
living, viz: George A., who is Lieu- 
tenant Commander in the United 
States Navy ; Martha B. Mahon, a 
widow, living in Washington City; 
Emma, widow of Rev. George Love, 
who was a minister of the Church of 
England, and who live! in Canada at 
the time 'of his death, since which 
event she has lived with her father. 
The youngest, Jesse R., is Rector of 
an Episcopal church at Jacksonville, 
Fla., and has the honor of having 
remained at his post of duty through- 
out the recent epidemic there. Judge 
Bicknell is also a member of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal church, is A. B. and 
A. M., of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and in 1864 received the degree 
of LL. D. from the State University 
of Indiana, and was Professor of Law 
in that institution from 1861 to 1870. 



ROBERT LA FOLLETTE, who 
emigrated to the Territory of In- 
diaua November 4, 1804. The pre- 
ceding day he had married Miss 
Maitha Sampson and together they had 
crossed the Ohio river and pitched 
their tent about three- fourths of a 
mile east of Knob Creek, which loca- 
tion he had previously selected. Here 



in the unbrokea wilderness surrounded 
by the dusky forms of the friendly 
Indians, they resolved to make their 
future home and commenced the battle 
of life. They remained in camp until 
Mr. La Follette had made a clearing, 
cut logs and built a cabin. This was 
the first house built in Floyd county, 
and the young wife was the first white 
woman who settled there. Their 
nearest neighbors were ten miles be- 
low them, in Harrison county. The 
Shawanee Indians were their immedi- 
ate neighbors ami with them thej 
lived on the most peaceful terms ; when 
marauding tribes from other sections 
made their appearance in the vicinity, 
Mrs. La Follette was -warned by her 
Indian friends and sent across the river 
to her people, while her husband 
joined the expedition to drive them 
back. They underwent all the hard- 
ships of pioneer life ; a rude cabin with 
a floor of split logs, sheltered them, 
and a bed, table and other furniture 
of split boards were the household 
equipments of the young settlers. Mr. 
La Follette continued to reside where 
he first settled and when the division 
line between Clark and Harrison 
counties was drawn, he was thrown 
into Clark county and paid his share 
towards building (he first court house 
at ( 'harlestown, the county seat. A few 
years later he moved into Harrison 
county and helped to build, by special 
tax, the court house at Corydon, and 
afterward, when Floyd county was 
organized, he found himself iii that 
county and paid his proportion of the 



96 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



levy to build the first court house at 
New Albany. lie remained on the farm 
to which he had removed from the 
vicinity of Knob Creek, until his death 
which occurred in January, 1867, 
when he was eighty-nine years of age. 
He had resided in the limits of what 
is now Floyd county sixty-two years, 
and his wife sixty-one years. Robert 
La Follette's house was for many years 
used for meetings, by the regular Bap- 
tist minister, and pioneer preachers of 
all denominations were cordially wel- 
comed. While he was conscientiously 
religious, he was also religiously con- 
scious of his duty to kill hostile Indians 
and never missed an opportunity of 
joining in the chase. I ). W. La Follette, 
a son of Robert La Follette, was born 
13th of September, 1825, and in early 
life learned that honest toil is the surest 
road to prosperity. By his own labor 
he acquired the means to defray his 
expenses at the State University, and 
graduated from the law department. 
He afterwards studied law with Hon. 
W. A. Porter, deceased, of Condon, 

was admitted to the bar in 1849, in 24th 
year of his age and immediately com- 
menced the practice of his profession 
ai Corydon. In 1852 he was elected 
prosecuting attorney for the Court of 
Common Pleas by a large majority 
In 1855 he removed to New Albany 
and formed a partnership with Hon- 
James Collins. In 1858 he was elected 
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas 
of Floyd County. In 1872 he was 
appointed Judge of the Criminal 
Circuit Court of Floyd and Clark 



counties, but declined, and became 
prosecuting attorney of the district. 
In 1873 he was appointed one of the 
law professors in the State University, 
and filled the chair one year with 
credit to himself and the institution. 



MICHAEL C. KERR was born 
in Titusville, Pennsylvania, March 
15, 1827. He received an academic 
education and graduated with the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Law r s at the 
Louisville University in 1851. He 
was an ardent and indefatigable stu- 
dent from an early age t > the close of 
his life. His attainments in the broad 
fields of general know ledge were more 
than ordinary, while in the branches 
more directly allied to his public du- 
ties, such as political economy, the sci- 
ence of government, parliamentary 
law, etc., his acquirements were ex- 
tensive and duly acknowledged by his 
contemporaries. He taught school 
for some time in Kentucky, and set- 
tled in New r Albany, Indiana, where 
he afterwards permanently resided. 
He began the practice of law in New 
Albany in 1852, was elected City At- 
torney in 1854 and prosecuting At- 
torney of Floyd county in 1855 ; was 
a member of the State Legislature in 
L856 and 1857; was elected reporter 
of the supreme court of Indiana in 
1862, and during his term of office ed- 
ited five volumes of reports; was 
elected a representative to the Thirty- 
ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first and Forty- 
second Congresses ; was the democratic 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



97 



.candidate at large for Representa- 
tive in the Forty-third Congress, but 
was defeated by a small majority of 
one hundred and sixty-two votes; he 
was elected in 1874 to the Forty-fourth 
Congress by a majority of thirteen 
hundred and nine. But the crowning 
honor of his public career was his 
election to the speakership of the 
House of Representatives, at its or- 
ganization, in 1875. Mr. Kerr made 
an able and impartial presiding officer 
and commanded the undivided respect 
of all part ies, For some time previous 
to this election to the speakership 
his health had begun to fail, from the 
insidious progress of a serious pulmo- 
nary affection, which was quickened 
to action by the arduous duties of his 
office, forcing him before the close of 
his first session, to seek relief from 
his toils and sufferings, by a .sojourn 
among the mountains of Virginia. 
But the disease had gained too much 
headway and his death took place on 
the 19th of August, 1876, at the 
Alum Springs, Rockbridge county, 
Virginia. His noble qualities of heart 
and mind endeared him to a large 
circle of acquaintances and friends. 
His death was regretted by the whole 
country. 



ASHBEL PARSONS AVILLARD 

was the most popular Governor 
Indiana ever had; was born October 
31,1820, at Vernon, Oneida county, 
New York. His father was Colonel 
Erastus Willard, sheriff of the 



county. The maiden name of his 
mother, whose memory he revered 
as long as he lived was Sarah Pai'sons. 
She died when he was fourteen, but 
she had alreadv discerned the dawning* 
brilliancy of his mind, and calling him 
to her dvin^ bed, counseled him to 
obtain a liberal education, and to 
enter the profession of the law. In 
accordance with her dying wishes, he 
pursued his preparatory studies at the 
Oneida Liberal Institute and when 
eighteen he entered Hamilton College, 
New York, in the class of 1842. He 
became first in scholarship in that in- 
stitution and bore off its highest 
honors as valedictorian. 

After graduating, Willard, depart- 
ing from the home of his youth, fol- 
lowed his two brothers, who had pre- 
ceded him, to Marshal], Michigan, and 
there, at the age of twenty-two, with 
feeble health but full of "the mental 
exhilarations of youth, hope and 
glory" he embarked upon the 
stormy sea of life. He remained at 
Marshall with, of course, a limited 
legal practice for about a year, when 
his health not becoming established, 
he determined to seek a milder clime. 
He purchased a horse and rode south- 
westwardly into Texas and back 
again to Kentucky, when his funds 
being exhausted but his health ex- 
ceedingly improved, he stopped and 
obtained employment as a school 
teacher. This was the year of the 
presidential contesl between Polkand 
Clay. Willard. from his boyhood, had 
been an earnest, working political par- 



98 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



tisan." He left the school room for the 
political arena. New Albany, Indi- 
ana fell within his circle, and there, 
stranger as he was, he addressed the 
people. The impression made by the 
tall, slender young orator was so fa- 
vorable to him, personally, that it in- 
duced an invitation to him to make 
that city his home. It was in the 
spring of 1845, before he had reached 
the age of twenty-five that Ashbel P. 
Willard, without pecuniary resources, 
in the absence of relatives and only 
friends of an hour's acquaintance, he- 
came a resident of Indiana. Entering 
upon the practice of law at New Al- 
bany he was compelled to encounter 
an able and learned bar — such law- 
yers as Bicknell, Crawford, Otto Da- 
vis and others, ranking inferior to 
none in the State. This competition 
only stimulated him to greater exer- 
tion. He afterward became the part- 
ner of Mr. Crawford, but did not, 
however, pursue the legal profession 
long enough to reach its greatest 
honors. Politics, we shall soon see, 
engaged his thoughts and energies 
and became the field of labor in 
which he won his fame. In narrat- 
ing, however, the events of his life it 
is proper to here turn aside to men- 
tion one of a domestic character. On 
the 31st of May, 1847, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Caroline C. Cook of 
Haddam, Conn. Of the offspring of 
that marriage, the first and third, 
James H. and Caroline C. Willard 
survive. In May, 1849, Mr. Willard 
was elected a member of the city 



council of New Albany, and labored 
steadily in that capacity for the im- 
provement of the finances of the city. 
In 1850 he was elected to the Legis- 
lature from Floyd county by an un- 
usual majority. He served in the 
capacity of Representative but a 
single session; but it is conclusive 
evidence of the reputation he had al- 
ready acquired for talent and effi- 
ciency that, young as he was, and 
new member as he was, he was placed 
at the head of the Committee on 
Ways and Means and assigned the 
leadership of the Democratic party 
in the House. In 1852 he was nom- 
inated by the Democratic party of 
Indiana for Lieutenant-Governor, 
and was elected. He filled this office 
until 1856, when he was called by 
the suffrages of the people of the 
State, after a most desperate politi- 
cal contest, to the executive chair, the 
highest office in their gift. He was 
inaugurated Governor of Indiana, 
January 10, 1857. And here, let the 
reader pause a moment to observe 
the spectacle presented. A young 
man, who eleven years before had 
entered upon his career of life in In- 
diana poor and friendless, had by his 
own persistent efforts, without aid 
from accidents of fortune, risen with an 
unfaltering step through a gradation 
of honorable and responsible offices, 
till at the age of thirty-six he ascend- 
ed to the highest position in the gov- 
ernment of a State composed of over 
a million of people. But few paral- 
lel cases can be found. 



HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY. 



99 



In 1860 his strength failed him. 
He went to Minnesota in the hope of 
recuperating, hut there in a ride from 
White Bear Lake to St. Paul he took 
a sudden cold, and on the 4th of Oc- 
tober of that year he expired from 
an attack of pneumonia. At the 
meridian of life, far up toward the 
source of the Father of Waters. 
whose swelling and majestic flow 
was no unfit emblem of the bold and 
overpowering .stream of eloquence of 
the "silver-tongued orator of Indi- 
ana," and Willard, yielding to the 
only enemy he could not conquer, de- 
scended into the regions of the dead 
— but there not to dwell. Amid pub- 
lic evidences of a sorrowing people 
his remains were borne to the city of 
New Albany, where they rest in the 
midst of friends he loved so well. 
The most marked features ■ f Wil- 
lard's intellectual powers were intu- 
ition and will — the faculties of all 
others most sure to produce the man 
of action, the successful leader; an I 
united with these, he had a gift of 
eloquence which makes his name a 
fireside recollection in the homes of 
Indiana, As a speaker, he was one 
of the most el quent in the forum or 
on the stump. Possessing in an em- 
inent degree all the requisites of a 
true orator in happiest combination; 



great emotion and passion, with cor- 
rect judgment of human nature, 
genius, fancy and imagination, ges- 
ture and attitude, intonation and 
countenance, his whole nature blend- 
ed to accomplish the mighty purposes 
of his heart. He saw at a glance the 
true relations of things, the exact 
bearing of current events ; what was 
proper to be done, and how to do it; 
and the force, the energy of his will 
bore him forward in its immediate 
and successful execution. He had 
great decision of character. He 
never stopped to speculate or doubt; 
and no leader ever should while he 
continues the contest, for uncertainty 
and hesitancy palsy the arm in its 
attempt to execute. As a general 
truth, it may be asserted that none 
but the sincere, believing, (earnest 
men will efficiently or can successful- 
ly struggle with difficulties. It was 
the possession in a high degree of the 
qualities above mentioned that drew 
upon Willard, by common consent, 
the leadership among those with 
whom he might lie; for the wavering 
and timid always follow the decided 
and brave. And it was those quali- 
ties, also, that gave him such distin- 
guished success as a presiding officer 
— quickness of apprehension, prompt- 
ness and energy of action. 



HARRIS0N C0UNTY. 



(By W. H. Pkiumx, Esq.) 



HARRISON is one of the wealthiest- 
counties in the southern part of 
the State, agriculturally, and one of 
the most important in the eomuion- 
wealth in historical interest. "Within 
its limits occurred much that has passed 
into history. Within its limits also, 
have fio-ured some of the ablest men 
the State has known, whose finger- 
marks are still to be seen, and whose 
statesmanship and wise counsels have 
been largely instrumental in placing 
her in an honorable position in the 
Union. For more than a decade of 
years — from 1818 to 1825 — its county 
scat was the capitol of the State, and 
the old Capital building still stands, a 
monument of historical interest. 
Here was once the home of ({en. Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, the fanner, patriot 
and soldier, whose trumpets never 
sounded the notes of retreat, the hero 
of the famed field of Tippecanoe, the 
ninth President of the United States, 
and the grandsire of the President. 
Here such men as he; Gen Posey, the 
soldier and patriot, the companion and 
friend of Washington; Jennings, 
honest, pure, with heroic courage for 
the right, Harbin Moore, "a meteor of 



brilliant thought and speech, and 
princely in courtly elegance of manners 
and conversation ;" the Boones, un- 
rivaled in pioneer daring, that never 
quailed before their savage enemies, 
and in whose lexicon there was no 
such word as fail ; Spier Spencer, who 
laid down his life on the field of Tip- 
pecanoe, and other master spirits of 
the time, who lived out the measure of 
their days ; and the fruit of their labors 
here are yet visible. Their surround- 
ings, however were such as we know- 
little of now, except by tradition. 
Pioneer life here, if all authorities may 
lie credited, was rough, rude, simple, 
sincere, honest, warm-hearted and 
hospitable, and many of the men of 
mark of that period, though brilliant, 
were erratic, often irreverent and dis- 
sipated. Their lives were levered and 
delirious, and upon the rostrum or in 
the forum they gleamed and flashed 
like blazing meteors. In the metrop- 
olis of the territory and the young 
State centered the two extremes of 
pioneer society; the rude simplicity, 
and the gifted, brilliant children of 
erratic genius. Above the mass, such 
men as Harrison, Jennings, Posey, 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



101 



Moore, etc., towered like Saul above 
bis fellows. The leading events in 
the lives of these men, and so far as 
they are interwoven with the history 
of Harrison county, will be noted as 
this sketch progresses. 

Topography. — Harrison is one of 
the southern tier of counties, and lies 
in a great arc of a circle of the Ohio 
river, which borders it for nearly forty 
miles and separates it from the State 
of Kentucky. It is bounded on the 
north by Washington county ; on the 
cast by Floyd and the Ohio river; on 
the south by the Ohio river; on the 
west by the Ohio and by Crawford 
county, and contains four hundred and 
Beventy-eight square miles. By the 
last census it had a, population of 21,- 
326. In common with the entire 
southern part of the State, it is rather 
broken and hilly, but notwithstanding, 
has a large amount of tine farming 
land. The principal streams, besides 
the Ohio river, are Blue river, forming 
the general dividing line between 
Harrison and Crawford counties; Big- 
Indian, Little Indian, forming a 
junction at the town of Corydon ; 
Buck and Mosquito Creeks. These 
streams pass through nairow valleys 
or canondike gorges, at a depth of 
three hundred to four hundred feet 
below the highest hill-tops, and from 
one hundred and twenty-five to one 
hundred anil fifty feet below the level 
of the "barrens," or valley plateaus. 

Barren*. — The name " barrens," ap- 
plied to portions of Harrison county, 
is somewhat misleading to the modern 



ear. The barrens were so named, be- 
cause when first vi sited by white 
people they were devoid of timber. 
The pioneers had an exaggerated idea 
of the amount of timber needed for 
dwellings and fuel, and seemed to be- 
lieve that soil too poor to grow timber 
would scarcely grow anything else, 
while the bare situation would expose 
them to the burning sun of summer 
and the fierce blasts of winter. These 
treeless regions, for years swept by 
autumnal tires, until they were covered 
with only a coat of rank weeds and 
prairie grass, presented, in many cases, 
the uniformity, without the monotony 
of the western prairies. The)' made 
a beautiful picture of the splendor 
and bounty of imtrammeled nature, 
and the rank grass was, in the spring 
and summer season, overtopped with 
radiant flowers, while the ground, rich 
and fruitful, was covered with wild 
strawberries. So prodigal was Nature 
of these unappreciated bounties that 
the odors were wafted on the breeze, 
for miles. 

Vast herds of deer bounded leisurely 
over the quietly rolling meadow-, and 
great Hocks of wild turkeys in their 
panoply of glittering green and blue 
plumage were met in every direction, 
while thousands of -mailer bird-, such 
as pheasants and quails might lie had 
for the taking. Such were the "bar- 
rens" which, far from being barren or 
sterile, were among the richest and 
most productive lands in the southern 
part of the State. But since the 
annual tires have keen prevented by 



102 



HISTORY OF HARRTSON COUNTY. 



settlements, and the opening of farms, 
these prairie -barrens are now, where 
not in cultivation, covered with young 
forest trees from 12 to 18 inches in 
diameter. 

Drainage. — One of the most impor- 
tant features of Harrison county is its 
subterranean drainage. No part of 
the world, perhaps, exhibits tins fea- 
ture so significantly. The rocky sub- 
stratum of the county is, as a rule, 
limestone. "The surface is a porous 
mass of flints, geod.es, siliceous fossils 
and fragments of quartz, the insoluble 
remains of this limestone dissolved 
and eroded by atmospheric agencies. 
The rainfall is absorbed by this mass, 
as if by a sponge, and quickly con- 
ducted to sink-holes and ever-enlarging 
crevices to underground canals or 
ducts. The result is a subterfaneaa 
system of livers, creeks and brooks, 
which flow along in midnight darkness, 
peopled with a peculiar fauna-fishes, 
crawfishes, worms and beetles, in which 
the organs of vision, unused for gen- 
erations and ages, are obsolete. This 
peculiar system, and its depth below 
the surface, renders the supply of 
water from wells uncertain, and resi- 
dences, churches and school-houses 
are usually supplied with cisterns for 
securing rain water for culinary and 
drinking purposes. At many points, 
the prevailing good health may be 
attributed to the use of pure rain 
water. Another remarkable effect of 
this drainage is observed in many 
electrical phenomena, seemingly con- 
trary to the well-known laws of elec. 



tricity. Lightning rarely or never 
strikes on the hills or table-lands, but 
generally, or always, in deep valleys, 
and often in basin-shaped sink-holes, 
from 200 to 4<>(» feet below the hills 
immed'ately adjoining or contiguous. 
Dry, porous earth, filled with air, is a 
pour conductor. 1 ' Such is the condition 
of areas, from a scientific standpoint, 
under-run by rivers and streams. The 
electricity seeks the shortest line to a 
good conductor by passing through the 
humid air to one of the underground 
water- courses. 

Caverns. — Caves are numerous in 
Harrison county, some of which are 
remarkable in extent and beauty. 
Borden's Cave in the western part of 
the county is, comparatively, a new 
discovery, and possesses unrivaled 
beauty. It is thus described by one 
who explored its subterranean beauties: 
"The cave contains four rooms, each 
differing from the rest in the shape 
and number of its formations. The 
first room is about 50 feet high and 
contains many stalactites, which are 
slendc, tolerably clear, and from 2 to 
5 feet long. The stalagmites are, 
also, numerous and beautiful; the 
stalactitic folds on the sides of the 
room depend in masses that, no doubt, 
weigh many tons. The most noted 
formations in the second story are : 
l.Very white, clear stalagmites, covered 
with "points of cala spar, that give 
them the appearance of being covered 
with frost. 2. A mass of broken stalag- 
mites that have fallen from the walls 
of the room ; this mass attracts much 



HISTORY CF HARRISON COUNTY. 



1 OS 



attention from those who do not under- 
stand the process of its formation. 
3. A large branching stalagmite in the 
left side of the room. A large pile of 
rocks, resembling Jug Rock in Martin 
county, partly separates the second 
and third rooms. Beyond it is a shelv- 
ing rock, 25 feet long and 10 feet wide, 
that contains, probably, 5, (too stalac- 
tites, from an inch to two feet long, 
and from one-fourth of an inch to two 
inches thick. Some of these stalac- 
tites have been broken off, perhaps 
by an earthquake, and as they fell 
they lodged among others, and have 
been cemented to them in many dif- 
ferent positions. The fourth room is 
entered by ascending a ladder. It is 
smaller than the others, and the most 
interesting object it contains is a huge 
stalagmite, 8 feet high. One-half of it 
has been removed b\ a small stream 
of water, so the present specimen is 
only a part of what was formerly 
there. 

"Mr. Borden has labored industri- 
ously to improve the cave. He has 
made and put in place a ladder 54 feet 
long, by which the cave is entered, 
and also put up three smaller ones at 
places inside. He has graded some 
of the rough places, and is at present 
engaged in opening a narrow channel 
through which the e is a strung cur- 
rent of air. The cave is worth a visit 
from all who enjoy subterranean ram- 
bles." 

Rhodes' Cave, also in the western 
part of the county, has an entrance 
almost like a well, and is 8 by 12 feet. 



Aiapid descent over angular, fallen 
rocks, leads by a passage-way, 7 to 10 
feet high to the lake, 93 Eeet below 
the surface. The lake is fed by per- 
manent springs, and never diminishes 
much, if any, in size. It is reported 
to have a measured depth of over -40 
feet. A small spring, dripping from 
the limestone walls, fringes the south 
side with clusters and sheaves of slen- 
der stalactites, and falls int < a basin- 
shaped stalagmite. The lake contains 
a great many white, blind fishes and 
crawfishes. Swarms of bats resort to 
the cave, hibernating there during the 
winter, hanging by the feet to the 
roof, in great clusters of thousands, 
remaining in a semi-torpid condition 
until the warmth of spring recalls 
them to active life. The cool, dry air 
of this cave has high antiseptic prop- 
erties, preserving fruit, fresh meat, 
etc., ia perfection. 

Another interesting cave is King's, 
about four miles east of Condon, near 
the turnpike to New Albany. "A 
spring or small stream of water is the 
key to this excavation, the chisel 
which tunneled and hollowed out this 
narrow cavern. At low water it 
would pass through a four inch orifice, 
and is constant in seasons of drouth; 
after a rain a torrent pours out of the 
gothic doorway six by three feet. 
This beautiful doorway, much older 
than the present entrance, is inacces- 
sible, except by ladder; above,adome 
shaped portico is well rounded to lines 
of beauty. The vestibule is sixty feet 
long, twelve fed wide, and five to ten 



104 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



feet high, with a rippling brook at 
oue side. Beyond, the roof becomes 
lower, and at places is but two and a 
half to three feet high. Half a mile 
from the entrance is a lake thirty feet 
long, of no great width or depth, con- 
taining blind fish and crustaceans. 
Bats, 'coons and muskrats frequent 
the cave for rest and hibernation. 
The grand hall near the lake is report- 
ed to be one hundred and twenty feet 
ong, sixteen feet wide, and eight feet 
hisd), with many beautiful stalactites. 
Beyond the lake the roof is so low 
that progress can be made in a stoop- 
ing posture only, or by crawling. 

Yocuru's Cave, on the south side 
of Little Indian Creek, but a short 
distance north of Corydon, is fall of 
attractions, and is a labyrinth of 
winding passages. It has been but 
partially explored, and to a distance 
of about half a mile. 

Boone's Cave. The most impor- 
tant cave in Harrison county, and to 
which attaches much historical inter- 
est, is that known as Boone's Cave. 
It is thus described: "West and 
northwest of Laconia, as will be seen 
by the map, there are four small 
creeks or brooks, which, after gather- 
ing the sirrface drainage of from two 
to four miles, suddenly sink in the 
ground to the cavernous St. Louis 
limestone. After an underground 
course of less than two miles, they 
are collected together and burst forth 
from an opening in the limestone 
bluff of Buck Creek ; in sufficient vol- 
ume to turn an old-fashioned over- 



shot wheel and mill. This region is 
historic ground, on the verge of the 
battle-land which divided the semi- 
civilized Indians of the South from 
the savages of the North, and subject 
to incursions from these irreconcilable 
enemies, and from predatory parties 
from the other tribes. It was inhab- 
ited by wild animals — a land of game 
— bears, deer, turkey, et •., were 
abundant. Notwithstanding the 
danger of the situation, this hunting- 
ground soon attracted the attention 
of the Boones, and others of the chiv- 
alrous pioneers of Kentucky. Every 
excursion was a scouting expedition, 
and every trail a. "war-path." The 
foemen neither asked or gave mercy. 
On one of their hunting expeditions, 
Squire Boone, brother to the famous 
Daniel Boone, of Kentucky history, 
in passing along the eastern bluff of 
Buck Creek, noticed a small cave- like 
opening in the rocks, partially hid- 
den by bushes. It appeared to be a 
good hiding place for large, wild 
game. A few miles further on he 
was attacked by Indians; his only 
chance for life was to fly. The pur- 
suit was immediate and earnest, and 
it was evident that they would soon 
overtake him. He remembered the 
hiding place discovered a few hours 
before, and reached it when his pur- 
suers were less than a hundred yards 
behind him. Throwing himself into 
the cave, he heai'd the Indians pass 
over his head. The little cavern had 
saved his life. To him it was holy 
ground ; he selected it as his final 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



105 



resting place — a sepulcher carved out 
by the hand of Nature. He required 
that, after his death, his body should 
be entombed there in this cave. 
Going to the spot, a rough, flat stone 
was shown us — the door to Boone's 
Grave Cave. Removing the stone, 
a small opening is exposed in the 
side of the hill; a descent of about 
seven feet led to a room six by eight 
feet on the floor, and a little less than 
five feet high. The coffin had been 
broken away, and the exposed bones 
showed that this intrepid pioneer bad 
been a man of stalwart frame and of 
great muscular power, at least six 
feet two inches high. The skull was 
gone. A decent regard for the fam- 
ily and memory of a man who con- 
tributed so much to the pioneer his- 
tory of the Ohio Valley, and gave 
names to so many counties, towns 
and villages in the Garden of Amer- 
ica, demands that a suitable memo- 
rial column or block of stone should 
be placed over this grave, -not only 
to mark the spot, but to preserve his 
mortal remains from the vandal 
hands of relic hunters. 

"Squire Boone spent his latter days 
in this vicinity. The great cave 
spring poured its torrents down the 
side of the hill, having a fall of 18 
feet. Boone built a mill, preparing 
the material almost wholly with his 
own hands. The building was of 
stone. Many of the blocks were 
ornamented withfigures and emblems, 
displaying some degree of artistic 
skill, and all by the hand of the old 



hunter. A trailing vine in full leaf 
and laden with fruit, was cut upon the 
lintels, and figures of deer, fishes, a 
horse, a cow, a lion, a human face, and 
stars, and many texts from the Bible 
were sketched upon the stone in differ- 
ent parts of the building. Over a 
door way was this inscription : 

'The. Traveler's . Rest . Consecra'ed . By. Squire. 
Boone . 1809.' 

Over another door is the followinff: 

o 
•T . Sit . And . Sing . My . Soul's . Salvation. 
And . Bless . The . God . Of. My . Creation.' 

A broken stone says: 

'My. Goode. Friend."' 

Everything pertaining to the Booties, 
the most famous pioneers of the Ohio 
valley, is of interest to the general 
reader, and the following is given 
from the Western Argus, a paper pub- 
lished in this county a third of a 
century ago, by Judge Slaughter. 
The Argus of June 22, 1852, says: A 
correspondent of the Louisville Jour- 
nals&ys that Enoch Boone, who resides 
in Meade county, Ky., was the first 
male child born in Kentucky now- 
living. Mr. Boone is the s< m i »f Squ're 
Boone and nephew of Daniel Boone. 
Squire Boone, the father of Enoch, 
was buried in a cavern in this county. 
His coffin is placed in a vault cut in 
the solid rock, the work of his own 
hands. The cavern is one in which 
Mr. Boone had, at one time, taken 
refuge from the Indians. Whilst 
hiding himself here from his savage 
foes he occupied himself in carving 
various fantastic figures on the walls 
of his underground house, which are 



106 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



plainly visible; iu fact, many of the 
stones were quarried from the walls 
and placed in the foundations of a 
mill which is uoav standing near the 
mouth of the cave, and on which the 
figures of birds and fishes are yet 
distinct as if made but yesterday. 1 ' 

Dr. Potts and some friends, in 1870, 
determined if possible to explore the 
cave which gives egress to the stream 
that drives the Boone mill. Near the 
mouth of the cave, which is twenty 
feet wide and ten feet high, the water 
rushes out with a violent current, and 
for one hundred and fifty yards was 
found to be waist deep ; thence for 
half a mile the stream was smaller 
a mere tunnel four and a half feet 
high, where they found interesting 
water-falls, one ten, another twelve or 
fourteen feet high; passing these they 
entered a dry hall-way for nearly a 
mile, averaging twenty feet wide and 
sixteen feet high, the sides highly 
ornamented with snow-white or 
translucent stalactites, and numerous 
stalagmites built up from the floor, 
which in many cases nearly approach 
the pendants from the roof. Sightless 
fishes and bats were the ouly observed 
inhabitants.* 

The famous Wyandotte Cave is 
just over the line in Crawford county, 
and only about twelve or fifteen miles 
from Corydon, in a due westerly 
course. It is one of the most remark- 
able caves yet discovered in this 
country, the celebra'ed Mammoth Cave 
of Kentucky perhaps excepted, and is 

* Squire Bjoue and his cave is referred to again in this 
sketch. 



annually visited by hundreds and 
hundreds of sight-seers and tourists. 

Geology. — The people of southern 
Indiana are an agricultural people in 
their pursuits. Their first care is the 
soil and climate, and facts pertaining 
to these are of the first importance. 
The science of geology is the founda- 
tion upon which rests the pursuits of 
a people and the genius of their civili- 
zation. It is a maxim in geology that 
the soil and its underlying rocks fore- 
cast unerringly to the trained eye' the 
character of the people, and quality 
of the civilization of those who will, 
in coming time, occupy a section of 
country. It is the science of geology 
that traces the history of the earth 
back through successive stages of 
development to its rudimental condi- 
tion, and "Recent Geology" comprises 
that succession of changes in its sur- 
face, which have occurred since the 
formation of the rock-beds in the bot- 
tom of the ocean, and their elevation 
above the surface of that sea. The 
term recent, then, is relative in its 
meaning. Although the term, by its 
phenomena, requires a very long 
period of time, variously estimated 
from thousands to millions of years, it 
is but a point or paragraph in the 
long years necessary for the prepara- 
tion and elevation of the underlying 
rocks. The local geology of Harrison 
county is thus given : 

"The alluvial 'bottoms 1 or valleys 
along the banks of the rivers and 
streams are due to causes now in action. 
Detritus, derived from wear and tear 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



107 



of rocks and their disintegration by 
atmospheric agencies, is seized by each 
brooklet and rainy day wash, hurried 
along by brook and river, and by flood- 
tide deposited along or upon its banks. 
By a slow current, and at eddies, a 
close, impervious clay is deposited ; but 
a stronger current carries in its bosoru 
sand and vegetable matter, which 
intermixed with clay forms the loamy 
soil characteristic of our streams, and 
famous for the production of fine crops 
of cereals, vegetables, fruits, etc. The 
'bottoms' of this county are of the 
best, and continually enriched by the 
annual overflow, are, after a continuous 
cultivation for nearly one hundred 
years, without manure, well remuner- 
ative to the careful husbandman. 

" The Lacustral epoch succeeds in 
age that above described. During the 
great ice age, the drainage of the great 
valley of this continent was from north 
to south. Northern areas were at an 
elevation of several hundred feet above 
their present level, relative to the 
ocean surface, and at the same time 
at a much greater elevation than 
now, above areas to the south, causing 
a rapid flow in that direction. At 
about the close of the glacial epoch, 
a slow oscillation of the crust of the 
earth occurred. The region of the 
great lakes, parts of Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri, etc., were slowly and con- 
tinuously depressed, at a rate so much 
greater than the southern parts of the 
country, that it worked a practical 
obstruction in the outlet of the water- 
shed. A great fresh water sea resulted, 



at one time covering the greater part 
of the interior of the continent, con- 
nected with outlying lakes by channels 
and valleys eroded during the pre- 
ceding period, driven by the wind, 
but otherwise currentless rivers or 
bodies of water. 

" From analogy, unqualified develop- 
ments elsewhere, and abundant facts 
easily seen, this region, upon its emer- 
gence above the sea, was a level 
plain — uoav traversed by many streams 
with deep, canon-like beds, but of 
recent origin, traversing the country 
from north to south. It is eight to 
fifteen miles wide, and from two 
hundred to three hundred feet deep. 
The eastern bluff is the Knob sand- 
stone of Floyd county, and the Chester 
hills in the western part of the 
county, along Blue river. A fine 
view, embracing a large part of this 
valley, can be had at a single glance 
from the top of Pilot Knob, adjoin- 
ing Coiydon on the south. Words 
can hardly express the gratification 
experienced on ascending this point, 
as the veil faded away which had 
mystified so many other visitors and 
students, disclosing that long vision 
ki the history of the past. A suc- 
cession of such sharp, conical 'knobs' 
or peaks are seen to the northwest 
and continue to occur beyond the 
northern boundary of the county, 
followed by a similar succession to the 
south-southeast. The great valley, 
locally known as the ' barrens,' is a 
nearly level plain. In a wild state, 
when visited by the Boones and other 



108 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



hunter pioneers, it was nearly a typical 
prairie, exhibiting a few gnarled and 
scotched shrubs or ' stools,' and covered 
Avith a luxuriant growth of tall prairie 
grass, herbs and vines. These were 
burned after each autumnal frost, pre- 
venting the growth of trees and per- 
manent vegetation. The soil is a 
silicious clay, the subsoil a confused, 
irregular, disjointed mass of flints, 
quartz and geodes,f rom ten to forty feet 
in depth — in some places approaching 
or covering the surface, so as to prove 
an obstacle to pleasant agriculture, and 
at a few points, in such extreme devel- 
opment as to require their removal 
and use in building fences, houses, etc. 
This rubbish is not in natural ' place,' 
and no such beds occur in this local 
geological formation, or any other. 
They are not imported by water or 
ice ; their origin is local. Looking for 
their source, we see in the cliffy out- 
lines of adjoining hills that the mate- 
rial of this debris is scattered in thin 
layers, one to fourteen inches in thick- 
ness, throughout the beds of St. Louis 
limestone, the plan of which is occu- 
pied by this valley. Judging from 
the isolated sections visible there, these 
layers, gathered from two hundred 
feet of St. Louis rocks, would just 
about equal the amount of the remains 
here left. One cannot but conclude 
that water, charged with carbonic acid, 
dissolved and totally removed in a state 
of solution, the whole of this limestone, 
rejecting the insoluble silicious material 
found remaining. 

This solution is natural, and does 



not require the erroneous theory of 
volcanic heat or upheaval. If the 
water which caused this removal was 
simply confined rainfall, and without 
motion, evaporation would have de- 
veloped great beds of calcic tufa. 
Such beds do not exist. Theoreti- 
cally, we may infer that a body of 
flowing water assisted. This is made 
certain by the fact that, on ascending- 
Pilot Knob and similar eminences 
near the level of the ancient table- 
land, the extreme summits still 
exhibit well rounded gravel and more 
angular coarse sand. These can 
only result from water in motion, 
and flowing with considerable rapid- 
ity — say two to four miles an hour. 
The north and northwestern sides of 
the hills and knobs, as a rule, are 
precipitous, as if roughly beaten by 
a current, while in every case a pro- 
nounced talus stretches out to the 
south - southwestwardly. All these 
definitely assert the existence of a 
pre-glacial river of great volume, 
flowing with some current, probably 
slow ; to the southeast. This valley, 
followed to the south, at present 
shows little or no fall in that direc- 
tion ; but Avith due alloAvance for the 
more rapid subsidence of northern 
areas, it is at once apparent that in 
the long past there was a time when 
this, as Avell as other rivers of Indi- 
ana and the north Avest, which once 
flowed to the south, could and Avould 
be obstructed and be compelled to 
find new outlets of discharges. 

"Ignoring the bed of the recent 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



109 



Ohio river, this valley crosses that 
stream between Brandenburg and 
Westport at an elevation of two hun- 
dred and fifty to three hundred feet 
above low water, passed by a wide 
channel, now tilted up near Eliza- 
bethtown, Ky., into the beautiful 
Nolin valley, and that of Nolin creek 
to the Green river, accounting for 
the unusual bottoms of the latter, 
thus finally reaching the present 
Ohio river through Jefferson county. 
Below this point of junction, as well 
as above New Albany, the Ohio val- 
ley is from one to five miles, with 
well-rounded, gently-sloping bluffs, 
as naturally occurs by exposure to 
the elements of a very great length 
of time. Between these points, along 
the southern line of Harrison, Craw- 
ford and Perry counties, the bottoms, 
exclusive of the river itself, range 
from nothing to a quarter of a mile 
in width, while the bluffs, from two 
hundred to five hundred feet in 
height, boldly approach the water's 
edge ; as a rule precipitous or very 
steeply inclined, and formed of lime- 
stone, which, by action of the 
atmosphere, is quickly sloped or 
rounded. They very strongly indi- 
cate the recent origin of the present 
Ohio river. On the other hand, the 
well - rounded and gently - sloping 
bluffs of the supposed pre-glacial 
A r alley, as strongly demonstrate the 
extreme antiquity of this phenome- 
non. 

# * -K- * * 

"Commencing with the highest 



and most recent rocky deposit in the 
western side of the county, are beds 
of bituminous or pyritous shales 
marking the place of coal A, the 
lowest coal seam in this State, capped 
by a few feet of conglomerate sand- 
rock named 'millstone grit' by the 
English geologists. It is so near the 
rim of the basin that, as is always 
the case, it is here barren — without 
coal. This horizon is remarkable 
for the abundance of well-preserved 
stems and fruits characteristic of the 
coal measures. No other point in 
this State offers a more interesting 
study than Keller's hill southwest of 
Corydon, and thence westerly to the 
Blue river. It is, perhaps, unneces- 
sary to say that no workable seams 
of coal exist in this county, and 
search in that direction will prove 
fruitless. * * On the farm 

of Rev. Jacob Keller is an outcrop 
of the lower coal measures and Ches- 
ter beds, of great interest. The fol- 
lowing section includes the space by 
barometric measurement to the level 
of the creek at Corydon, four and a 
half miles east : 

Loess soil, - - - 2 feet. 
Conglomerate sand rock, - 10 " 
Dark carbonaceous shale, 

place of coal A, - -20 " 
Heavy grit stone, - - 15 " 
Soft sandstone, - - 7 " 

Blue Kaskaskia limestone, 

with Chester fossils, - 25 " 
Argillaceous limestone, with 

chert, - - - 15 " 

White limestone, - 6 " 



110 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



Slope to sink, - - 20 feet. 

Space by barometer to creek 
at Corydon, - - 240 " 

360 " 
"Mr. Ezra Keller baa gathered at 
this locality, which is wondrously 
ricb, a remarkable collection of coal 
measure fossils, including great trunks 
of Lepidodendron, forked strangely 
strangulated, from two to tAvo and 
a balf feet in diameter, but short and 
stumpy, as if of such weak or her- 
baceous growth as to forbid tall erect 
stature; Stigmaria, of different species; 
Knorria, with ferns and fruit-like 
seeds of coal -measure plants, a stony 
herbarium of the age of coal. The 
coal - measure strata continue west, 
increasing with the dip in thickness 
in a great trough to Blue river. The 
following section is at Rothrock's 
cliff, Blue river : 

Soil and fluviatile drift - 60 feet. 
Laminated soapstone - - 14 " 

Massive quarry sandstone, con- 
glomerate - - - 8 " 
Soft ferruginous sandstone -11" 
Place of Coal A - - " 

Shale and tire-clay - - 7 " 

Chester limestone and silicious 

shales - - - 120 " 

St. Louis limestone, covered 



to Blue river 



180 



400 



"The massive sand rock is easily 
quarried, breaking in great cubes, as 
if out by hand, from 2 to 8 feet 
square ami larger, and from evidence 



of exposure, is of unlimited endur- 
ance. As a grit stone it is first-rate, 
and should command the attention of 
manufacturers desiring very large 
grindstones. Beds of excellent pav- 
ing stones are exposed in the litho- 
graphic member of the Chester 
group.' 1 

Building Stone. — The mineral re. 
sources of Harrison county are equal 
if not superior, to any county in 
southern Indiana. One of its great 
staples, and which must continue to 
increase in value, is building stone. 
It exists in the county in every 
variety, comprising the ornamental as 
well as those of sterling useful quali- 
ties. The " buff calcareo-magnesian 
beds,' 1 at New Salisbury, have been 
worked at intervals for many years, 
and were mentioned prominently by 
Dr. David Dale Owen, in the first 
geological report of the State. The 
color is a subdued, neutral tint. 
Directly from the quarry it is soft, 
and may be hewn with a broad-ax 
or cut with a common saw, but on 
exposure to the air becomes hard. 
Samples seen in the old Capitol at 
Corydon, and in use as door-sills and 
steps to residences, show the satis- 
factory hardness and endurance of 
this stone after sixty years' exposure 
and use. The well defined, creamy 
buff tint will, by harmony as well as 
contrast, be found desirable for orna- 
mental work in artistic edifices. 

The light-gray limestone at King's 
Cave quarry, and many other points 
in the county, is practically, as well as. 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



Ill 



geologically, equivalent to the famous 
quarries at Salem, Bedford, Blooming- 
ton, etc. It is an elastic, compact, 
homogeneous limestone, capable of 
sustaining heavy burdens, and from 
the boldly escarped bluffs and expo- 
sure, known to absolutely resist for 
ages the action of the elements. When 
unlimited facilities for transportation 
exist, this stone, equal to the best 
heretofore offered in the market, will 
meet a good demand. 

The snow-white oolitic limestone 
has been opened at the Stockslager 
quarry, near Mauckport, although it 
occurs in thinner ledges in other parts 
of the county. A chemical precipitate 
from an aqueous solution, it is of 
almost perfect purity. In color it is 
more brightly white than marble. It 
is susceptible of a high polish, and the 
egg-like concretions add a signal beauty 
and variety to the peculiar structure. 
In color, beauty and uniformity it is 
unique, and is believed to be unsur- 
passed, if not unrivaled. Tested 
scientificall}', it was found to weigh 
nearly 150 pounds per cubic foot, and 
to have a crushing strength per square 
inch of 10,250 pounds, or more than 
eighteen times as strong as good bricks. 
When burned, it yields pure white 
lime, a superior article for plastering, 
whitewashing, etc. It works cool 
under the trowel, giving ample time 
for ornamental finish. On account of 
its purity, it is in good demand for 
defecating sugar and other chemical 
purposes on the lower Mississippi 
river. At ordinary stone quarries, 



spawls and broken debris are a serious 
and costly encumbrance; here, even- 
rejected fragment is in demand for 
calcination and adds to the value of 
the quarry, and almost insures profit- 
able results to operators. 

A dark-gray limestone is seen just 
below the mouth of Mosquito creek, 
near the extreme southern promontory 
of the county. It is homogeneous, 
massive, and shows in solid stratum of 
limestone, so much resembling granite 
in external appearance ; from indica- 
tions on the outcrop, it is almost equal 
to granite in strength and endurance. 
This stone deserves the careful atten- 
tion of engineers having in charge the 
construction of piers, walls and foun- 
dations exposed to ice, floods and 
surging ocean waves.* When burned, 
it makes a strong white lime. 

The sandstones of the Chester group 
cap the hills in the western and south- 
western parts of the county. The 
massive beds which crop out on the 
bluffs of the Blue river and the Ohio 
river in Washington and Scott town- 
ships, where undermined, sometimes 
break off and dash down the steep 
bluffs, especially in the spring when 
the thawing frost renders underlying 
rocks weak and yielding. 

Many of the fallen masses still re- 
tain their sharp, well-cut angles, 
although the surroundings indicate an 
exposure to storm and ice for centu- 
ries. It is a choice stone for exposed 
foundations, frost and water-proof. 
A good grit stone, large sized grind- 

* Prof. E. T. Cox. 



112 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



stones, four to five feet in diameter 
were obtained from Rhodes' quarry, 
on Blue river, and used in manufac- 
tories in Louisville, Ky., and were 
found to be first-class. 

Li inc. — Of course where so much 
limestone exists, the manufacture of 
lime follows as a natural consequence. 
Lime has been burned in Harrison 
county, in almost every part of it, 
from its earliest settlement, by log 
heap and other primitive methods, as 
well as by the more modern kilns. 
Years ago, when flatboats carried the 
commerce of the West to New 
Orleans, kilns for the calcining of the 
white oolitic stone lined the banks of 
the Ohio aud Blue rivers, wherever 
that stone was obtainable along those 
streams; from which the burned lime 
was shipped as "Blue River Lime," 
on flatboats to the Southern planters 
and merchants. The trade, stopped 
by the late civil war, has never been 
revived. The lime is good ; none 
other in the valley of the West sur- 
passes it, and only capital and enter- 
prise is needed to put it on the mar- 
ket, and make it a vast source of 
wealth to the county. 

The immense beds of highly bitum- 
inous shaly limestone, exposed in the 
bluffs reaching across the great bend 
of the Ohio river from Brown's Land- 
ing to Cedar Grove, are inexhaustible. 
This stratum is here thirty to forty 
feet thick, and at localities on the river 
bank, so situated that cartage and 
elevators are unnecessary ; all the 



costly and heavy work may be chiefly 
done by downcasts. 

Glass Sand. — Glaze's Landing, some 
fifteen miles southeast of Corydon is 
noted as the place from which most 
of the white sand is shipped for the 
New Albany Plate Glass Works. * * 
* * Glass sand occurs here as else- 
Avhere in the county, as well as north 
in Floyd county, and south across the 
State of Kentucky in separate deposits 
or basins along the east or west bank 
of the depression, provisionally named 
the pre-glacial river bed. This depres- 
sion trends, in this county, by a gentle 
curvature, and the sand banks are at 
the most easterly or eddy point of the 
curve, and just in the eastern edge of 
the "Flat Woods" flood plain of the 
supposed river. Just what connection 
their existence had with that river, is 
not clearly seen, but their peculiar 
location in reference to it, and the fact 
that in the lower beds of sand and 
kaolin clays beneath it are fossils 
which had their origin to the north, it 
seems at least probable, if not reason- 
ably certain, that the current of water,, 
which deposited them, flowed from 
the north of Washington aud Floyd 
counties, with no great current, but in 
great volume. The deposits, com- 
mencing two miles south of Bridge- 
port, are in regular series, though var- 
iable iu extent, down to near the 
extreme southern extremity of the 
county, near the mouth of Mosquito 
creek, or twelve miles long by a half 
to one mile Avide and 400 to 450 feet 
above the Ohio river. In this vicinity 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



Ill 



it lies upon. Keokuk rocks, further 
north on a St. Louis bed, and at one 
point in Kentucky it caps the Chester 
hills ; in the beds and under them are 
found pieces of chert and silicified 
fossils from each one of the groups. 

At Capt. Lawson's mine, owned by 
W. C. DePauw, Esq., proprietor of 
the New Albany Glass Works, the 
sand is coarse, in massive strata of 
rough sandstone, with somewhat reg- 
ular layers, but generally striated by 
false bedding; from the bottom of 
the pits fine specimens of white and 
yellow kaolin (Indianaite) were 
obtained. * * * * 

After disturbance by quarrying, a 
slight exposure causes the stone to 
disintegrate. It is then washed, or 
rather wetted, and thrown on a plat- 
form to drain, which removes all the 
iron coloring matter, and the snow- 
white product is ready for market. 
Capt, Knight, who has worked these 
mines for eight years, says that at 
two of them he found streaks of black 
magnetic sand carrying fine gold dust 
in the bottom layers. * * * * 
Glass sand has been opened and a few 
boat-loads shipped from the land of 
Lydia Peters and R. Krow, in the 
south-east part of the county. 
Beneath the sand, kaolin was here 
found as white as snow. In the flat 
prairie area to the east, is a large 
extent of red, yellow and green kaolin 
in persistent beds two to three feet 
thick, which would be of immense 
value if free from coloring matter, and 
eminently adapted to the manufacture 



of ordinary pottery, ornamental terra 
cotta and tile products. * * * * 
In the northwest corner of the county, 
glass sand is found. It is an excellent 
quality of white sand and is extensively 
used in the works at New Albany. 
Similar beds of sand are found along 
the whole of the eastern edge of the 
black mucky regiou, locally known as 
the "Flat Woods." The beds are not 
continuous, but in pockets, and are not 
restricted to the Indiana side of the 
Ohio river, but, where reported or ob- 
served, extended along the equivalent 
ancient depression across the State 
of Kentucky in the direction of Nolin 
Valley and Nolin Fork of the Green 
river. In many places it is a massive 
rock, with much stratification and 
false bedding; ordinarily by exposure, 
it has passed from this condition to 
that of loose sand. 

Natural Gas. — Harrison county lies 
iu the natural gas area, of which the 
north side of Mead county, Ky., seems 
to be the center. The existence of 
natural gas here was known long 
before the present excitement arose. 
Prof. Cox speaks of it thus : "The 
gas flow, a mile below Eversol's, and 
half a mile above Rosewood post 
office, on Capt, Strong's land, is pecu- 
liar and of importance. All along 
the Ohio river, for a space of half a 
mile or more, whenever the water is 
not more than two to ten feet deep, 
bubbles may be seen hurrying upward. 
Near the edge of the river, it pushes 
its way through the muddy deposit 
with a restless motion ; in deeper 



114 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



water the discharge is greater ; a con- 
tinuous flow of large or small bubbles, 
and at places, in time of low water, 
in sufficient volume and force to give 
a rocking motion to a skiff, and in 
some instances threatening to overturn 
it. On the shore line, small springs, 
with gas, break out. Confined in a 
tube or clay chimney, the gas is often 
gathered and ignited ; these jets burn 
night and day until extinguished by 
wind, storm or overflow, like the 
Gheber's holy light in the sun wor- 
shipper's land of fire, exciting the fear 
of boatmen, who could only wonder 
at a 'hole on fire.' It is a very pure 
carburetted hydrogen, burning with 
a white flame of hiarh illuminating 
power and evolving great heat. The 
flow of gas is not confined to the river 
bed alone. In time of high water 
the ebullition of gas is noticed in the 
back water over the low lands, and is 
traced by the gas well near Buena 
Vista in a southwesterly direction 
across the country by Boone's land- 
ing, to a similar phenomenon in the 
bed of the river, and at the gas -salt 
works at Brandenburg, Ky. 

"An imaginary line has been drawn 
across the country, connecting the 
points enclosing the probable area 
over which gas may be found by 
boring from 500 to 800 feet, and 
accompanying the gas will be a flow 
of salt water, but it must not be 
expected that a good supply of either 
will be found in every bore that may 
be made in the area. Tin's supply of 
gas, of inestimable value as a fuel for 



evaporating salt brine, generating 
steam and other economic purposes, 
sufficient to propel the machinery of 
and illuminate the streets and dwell- 
ings of a city, is now suffered to go 
to waste. * * Returning: 

to Boone's Landing on the Ohio river, 
the line of 'gas springs', the ebullition 
of which has been mentioned in the 
bed of the river, a short distance 
above Rosewood post office, and which 
was found in the oil well near Buena 
Vista, is again noticed, entering the 
river a short distance below Tobacco 
Landing, and trending obliquely to 
the southwest, until, at Morvin, the 
phenomena of the bubbling gas was 
seen from the Indiana shore to the 
Brandenburg wharf. * 

The immense amount of this gas, and 
the possibility of its economical use 
for "illuminating, heating, cooking, 
and steam purposes, induced a visit 
to Brandenburg, on the Kentucky 
side of the river. Immediately ad- 
joining the town, and thence east to 
Doe Run, eight wells are reported as 
having been bored to depths ranging 
from 478 to 800 feet, and from seven 
of them, gas and salt water were dis- 
charged ; iu more than half of them 
the gas was in considerable quantity, 
and in at least two of them the brine 
was strong and in reasonable quantity." 

Since the foregoing was written by 
Prof. Cox, the gas area has been great- 
ly developed, both in Harrison county, 
Indiana, and in Meade county, Ken- 
tucky. There is now nearly 30,000,- 
000 cubic feet of gas flowing daily, 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



115 



and which, so far, has gone to waste. 
There is, however, a company formed 
to pipe it to Louisville, and doubtless, 
March 1st, 1889, will witness Louis- 
ville and New Albany supplied with 
natural ens, both for illuminating and 
heating purposes. The absence of 
coal in this county should make natu- 
ral gas more valuable as fuel, and its 
close proximity to the county seat, 
it seems, should render it cheaper fuel 
than any other to be had in the town. 
Agricultural Features. — Harrison 
county, notwithstanding its irregular 
and somewhat broken surface, is one 
of the finest agricultural counties in 
southern Indiana. In a state of 
nature it offered features that fairly 
invited the early pioneer. To the 
brave hunter it was a land of wild 
ple»ty. Large game was abundant. 
The flesh and skins fed and clothed, 
and, as currency, supplied every want. 
The fertile bottoms, ''tickled with a 
hoe, smiled a harvest." The barrens, 
almost prairies in contour and free- 
dom from trees, clothed in a luxuriant 
coat of grass, gave abundant pasture 
and forage without labor, except the 
gathering. Wild fruits, as the plums, 
grapes, haws and persimmons, wal- 
nuts, hickory nuts and chestnuts, were 
everywhere abundant. No wonder it 
was deemed a second paradise by the 
fathers of the State. Three-quarters 
of a century's cultivation, however, 
has robbed the soil of its virgin fer- 
tility, and it now needs artificial 
means to make it produce bountifully. 
The river and creek bottoms, consist- 



ing of deep alluvial loam, annually 
recruited by spring overflows, still 
produce excellent crops, but the up- 
lands require considerable fertilizing 
to pay the husbandman for cultivation. 
An estimate by a well informed agri- 
culturalist places the annual return 
per acre from the better land as fol- 
lows : 
Corn, forty bushels, at forty 

cents per bushel, - - % 16.00 
Wheat, twenty-two bushels, at 

one dollar per bushel, - 22.00 
Ha\ , two tons, at fifteen dollars 

per ton, - - - 30.00 

Potatoes, one hundred and fifty 
bushels, at seventy-five cents 
per bushel, - - - 112.50 
Cabbages, fifteen hundred heads, 
at five cents a head, 75.00 

On the uplands the yield is less 
satisfactory, and by the same author- 
ity is estimated as follows : 
Corn, twenty bushels, at forty 

cents per bushel, - - $8.00 
Wheat, eight bushels, at one 

dollar per bushel, - - 8.00 
Potatoes, 100 bushels, at sev- 
enty-five cents per bushel, 75.00 
Hay, one ton, at fifteen dollars 

per ton, - - - 15.00 

The agricultural report of 1880, 
gave the county 2,760 cultivated 
farms; 169,552 acres of improved 
lauds, valued at $4,346,411. It also 
shows the following productions for 
that year : Corn, 553,098 bushels ; 
oats, 84,641 bushels; wheat, 350,671 
bushels; orchard products, 46,739 bar- 
rels ; Irish potatoes, 76,600 bushels. 



116 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



Value of live stock, $492,976 ; esti- 
mated value of farm products, J^7S5,- 
709. "A few experiments with bone 
dust showed that to be a sure source 
of relief, on the exhausted uplands. 
After a continued use for several 
years, this fertilizer is found to nearly 
double the crop of corn, wheat or 
grass, and leave in the ground the 
elements, in part, of other crops- 
Several bone mills are established in 
the county, and large quantities of 
bone dust are brought into the county 
from the mills at New Albany and 
Louisville. Bone dust is applied at 
the rate of one hundred and twenty- 
five to two hundred and fifty pounds 
per acre. A careful estimate of its 
benefits by a thoughtful farmer give* 
the following showing : In the fall 
of 1877 there was bought and applied 
to the wheat crop an aggregate of 
3,330 tons, costing' $30 per ton, or 
nearly $100,000. This was applied 
to 33,300 acres of wheat ; with the 
low estimate of an increase of four 
bushels of wheat per acre we find the 
farmers who applied the bone dust 
have an aggregate net profit of over 
$33,000. With such results, it is 
apparent that the use of such fertili- 
zers will pay and should be encour- 
aged. It may not be improper to 
suggest that the use of commercial 
manures, when farm products bring 
no higher prices than they do in 
this county, should be only a tempo- 
rary expedient. A farm should be 
self-sustaining. As soon as the fer- 
tility of the soil is partly restored. 



attention should be given to the cul- 
ture of clover and the grasses, by 
which, with a fair rotation of crops, 
the fertility of the soil may be indefi- 
nitely sustained. Blue grass and tim- 
othy, which succeed so well in the 
center of the State, fail in parts of 
this county by reason of the drouth 
and hot sunshine. Experience in 
southern Indiana, Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee, has shown that orchard grass, 
when closely seeded, will withstand 
drouth in partly shaded ground or 
open fields far better than any grass 
above mentioned; that when a drouth 
of four or five weeks would cause the 
blue grass to wilt and dry crisp, the 
orchard grass would be comparatively 
green and luxuriant. The advantages 
of this over other grasses are : 'It 
can be grazed two weeks earlier in 
the spring; its fattening qualities are 
equal or superior; it affords more 
grazing or hay to the acre ; in summer 
it will grow more in a day than blue 
o'i'ass will in a week, five or six days 
being generally sufficient for a good 
bite; it makes a permanent sward for 
pasturage or hay, and does not run 
out.' A field on the Blue river, as an 
example, has furnished good pasture 
for twenty-five years, and in adjoining 
States, fields of orchard grass have 
been continuously pastured or mowed 
for forty years."* 

The earliest settlers of Harrison 
county planted apple trees ; many old 
apple trees may be seen from two to 
two and a half feet in diameter. The 



•Prof. Cox. 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



117 



descendants of the pioneer's have kept 
up the practice until nearly every 
farm has its orchard of well selected 
varieties. The apples are highly 
colored, well ripened, and the crop 
usually exceeds the demand. On the 
elevated table lands and "flat woods" 
district, the apple crop is usually very 
large, and rarely fails. Peaches bear 
very well, but are not so sure a crop 
as apples. Of late years considerable 
attention has been paid to small fruits 
with good results, also to grape cul- 
ture. 

Harrison's Valley. — The most fer- 
tile portion, perhaps, of the county is 
what is known as "Harrison's Valley, 1 ' 
west of Corydon. It derives its name 
from Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, the 
Governor of the Indiana Territory, 
grandfather of the present President, 
and former owner of it. Every 
locality and plat of the rich area calls 
up some historic reminiscence of its 
original owner ; one plat being known 
as the "Governor's held," another as 
the " General's meadow, " etc. The 
valley is almost a grand amphitheatre 
walled by limestone hills, wrought by 
time into a gentle slope. In the mid- 
dle of the level central area is a basin 
rimmed with a . natural stone Avail,, 
scarce two feet high, filled with pure 
clear water. The ebullition in the 
center of the basin shows in ordinary 
times a great flow of water. In flood 
times a furious torrent, ten to fifteen 
feet in diameter, rolls up three to six- 
feet above the surface level, and flows 
in a wondrous river one hundred feet 



wide, and ten to fifteen deep. Even 
in seasons of protracted drought, the 
flow is reported as a constant stream, 
thirty feet wide and eight inches 
deep. From the spring to the Blue 
river, a few hundred yards distant, 
there is a fall of eight feet, and the 
power is used to run a saw mill. In 
the earliest times a distillery was 
located near the great fountain. Says 
an enthusiastic writer : " Interesting 
and beautiful as the valley is, and no 
tourist has seen America without 
seeing this spring, it was far more 
beautiful and attractive robed in 
nature's garb of forest, vines and 
sward ; a favorite resting place to the 
mystery-loving savages, it at once 
attracted the attention of the pioneer- 
General, from economic, as well as 
other reasons. Mills were a necessity, 
and to insure a rapid influx of friends 
and defenders, for every man and 
woman must be at once farmer and 
soldier, mills must be erected at such 
localities, where they could be built 
quickly and at the least expense, so 
the Governor secured the valley, and 
in 1805-6 erected a mill, and employed 
himself between campaigns, as a 
farmer and actual miller. Persons 
now living in the vicinity remember, 
when boys, being sent to mill on 
horseback with a sack of corn or 
wheat, which Gen. Harrison would 
receive with his own hands and carry 
to the hopper. 

The General's old residence is gone ; 
it has disappeared under the decaying 
hand of time. Only a few shrubs and 



118 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



trees remain to mark the spot. The 
orchard, planted by the hand of the 
American Cincinnatus, survives, and 
though somewhat scarred by the flight 
of years, is still vigorous in growth 
and fruitage. The trees, now verging 
on to a century, are thrifty, and some 
of them nearly three feet in diameter 
at the ground. We shall have more 
to say of Gen. Harrison in these pages. 

Early Settlement. — The settle- 
ment of Harrison county by white peo- 
pie dates back to the beginning of the 
present century. No special impor- 
tance attached to the section until the 
capital of the territory was removed to 
Corydon. Hitherto, its settlement 
progressed slowly, much as in other 
portions of southern Indiana, but with 
the location of the capital within its 
limits an influx of immigration set in 
such as before unknown. A large 
proportion of the early settlers were 
from Virginia and North Carolina, 
with a few from Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky. 

A little curious as to the motive 
which set journying hither so many 
people from the States south of the 
Ohio, investigation develops the fact 
that with many it was for the purpose 
of escaping what is termed the " curse 
of caste." Indiana was a territory 
reposing under the provisions of the 
famous ordinance of 1787. Not a few 
of the pioneers have left their record 
that they sought homes here because 
the land would never be blemished by 
negro slavery, and civil and social dis- 
tinctions be yielded only to those who 



owned " niggers." Some of the early 
settlers brought negroes with them 
but not as slaves, or, if as slaves, they 
soon freed them in compliance with 
the ordinance above alluded to. Much 
the larger portion of the early settlers, 
however, were such as did not nor 
would not own slaves. They were 
mostly poor in worldly wealth, but 
rich in possibilities. They were ready 
to endure all the privations of a new 
country if a home, free and untram- 
meled, was the result of their toil. 

Among the early settlers of the 
county whose names have been rescued 
from oblivion are : "first in war, first in 
peace and first in the hearts his 
countrymen,'' Gen. William Henry 
Harrison ; and Gen. Thomas Posey, 
Jonathan Jennings, Squire Boone and 
his sons Isaiah, Enoch, Moses and 
Jonathan, and five nephews ; Henry 
Heth, William Branham, Thos. Smith, 
Laurence Black, John Hickman, Isaac 
Bichardsou, Bobert Long, Wm. Pen- 
nington, Laurence Bell, Wm. Sands, 
Benijah Brown, Christopher Fort, Pat- 
rick Shields, John G. Pfriener, George 
F. Pope, John Keller, Capt. Brice, 
Peter Copperas, Spier Spencer, Dennis 
Pennington, John Smith, William 
Nance, George Gresham, George 
Crutchfleld, Henry Bice, Beuben 
Wright, Jacob Conrad, Eli Wright, 
William Vest, Isaac V. Buskirk, James 
Shields, Pearce Chamberlain, Jos. 
Decker, Sanford Bansdall, Bobert 
Cochran, Sack Pennington,. George 
Given, Edward Smith, Richard McMa- 
hon, Andrew Johnson, John Dawson, 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



119 



Paul French, Benjamin Brown, Jacob 
Richardson, Hays McCallen, Edward 
Ransdall, Bennett Wood, Joseph Latta, 
Peter McMickle, Richard Arnold, Jas. 
Stephens, Ignatius Abel, John Stur- 
geon, Jacob Yountzler, Joseph Nelow, 
Robt. Rusk, Geo. Tenor, John Harbi- 
son, Henry Wireau, Wm. Liedley, 
John Hurst, George Arnold, Jos. Mack- 
field, Jacob Miller, John Beck, Tice 
Light, etc., etc. Many other names 
might be given, but these are deemed 
sufficient to show who were the pio- 
neers. Many of them still have 
descendants in the county. 

Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison was the 
most prominent citizen of Harrison 
county, and one of the eminent men 
of the Union. He was born in Charles 
county, Va., February 9, 1773, and 
was a son of Benjamin Harrison, a 
man of considerable prominence in 
Virginia affairs ; Speaker of the House 
of Burgesses in 1764 and 1777-82 ; a 
member of the general Congress 1774- 
77 ; one of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence and Governor of 
Virginia 1782-85. William Henry 
received a liberal education, graduating 
from Hampden -Sidney college, which 
he had entered with a view of adopt, 
ing the medical profession. In 1791 
he became an ensign in the army, and 
the next year a lieutenant on Gen. 
AVaynes's staff. He was promoted 
captain in 1795 and made command- 
ant of Fort Washington, now Cinein- 
natti. In 1797-98 he served as secre- 
tary of the Northwest Territory, 
although but a few years past his 



majority, and in 1799 was its delegate 
in the Congress of the United States. 
He was Governor of the Indiana terri- 
tory from 1801 to 1813, and superin- 
tendent of Indian affairs, and as such, 
concluded thirteen important treaties 
and gained the battle of Tippecanoe, 
November 7, 1811. Kentucky made 
him Major General of her militia in 
1812, while the Federal Government 
made him a Brigadier General in the 
regular army, and the next year (181 3) 
made him a Major General, and as 
such he won great renown in the 
defense of Fort Meigs and the battle 
of the Thames, October 5, 1813. He 
left the army in 1814 and was 
employed by the government in Indian 
affairs until 1816 when he was elected 
a member of Congress from Ohio, hav- 
ing removed to that State, serving 
until 1819, and State Senator two 
years from that date; in 1825 he was 
elected to the United States Senate. 
He was United States Minister to 
Columbia in 1828-29, after which he 
retired to his farm at North Bend, 
Ohio, sixteen miles below Cincinnati ; 
and Cincinnatus-like betook himself 
to his plow. He was elected to the 
Presidency in 1840, over Martin Van 
Buren, receiving 234 electoral votes to 
Mr. Van Buren's sixty. The election 
was one of the most exciting ever held 
in the Republic up to that time. The 
battle-cry of " Log Cabin and Hard 
Cider," referring to statements of his 
adversaries as to his home and his favor- 
ite beverage, were effectively used by 
the Whigs, the party to which the Gen- 



120 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



eral belonged, and carried him to an 
overwhelming victory. These are some 
of the public services of General Harri- 
son ; and the fact that he is the grand- 
father of the present President detracts 
nothing from his name or fame. He 
died on the 4th of April, 1841, just 
one month from the day of his inau- 
guration as President, Many local 
incidents of the life of Gen. Harrison 
are given in Harrison county, which 
was named for him, showing how 
absolutely he was a man of the people. 

Gen. Posey and Gov. Jennings were 
not permanent citizens of the county, 
but merely residents during their offi- 
cial careers. Their history can scarcely 
be said to belong in the history of 
Harrison county. They were men of 
intelligence and patriotism, and the 
virtues of each are perpetuated by a 
county in the State, bearing their 
names. The following publication in 
a newspaper in October, 1888, refer- 
ring to Gov. Jennings, should find an 
echo in every patriotic heart, and is 
not out of place in this sketch : 

"At the next session of the Indiana 
Legislature a vigorous effort will be 
made to have the Assembly pass an 
act appropriating a sufficient amount 
of money to erect a suitable monument 
over the grave of Jonathan Jennings, 
the first Governor of the State. The 
body now lies interred in an aban- 
doned little graveyard at Charlestown 
without stone or slab to indicate the 
location. The mound has lon°; since 
disappeared, and it is hardly probable 
that there is any one now living who 



can point out the exact spot wdiere the 
bones of the first executive of one of 
the chief States in the Union now lie. 

At one time, the cemetery was little 
better than an open commons, and 
hogs, cattle and fowls roamed at will 
over the grounds. Of late years a 
fence has been placed around the place 
and the weeds kept in bounds. Al- 
though the spot at jiresent but little 
resembles a home of the dead, it is 
still kept sacred, and but few people 
are allowed to sojourn in the town any 
length of time without being reminded 
that Gov. Jennings lies buried there. 

Many efforts have been made to 
obtain, by private subscription, the 
needed funds to erect a marble shaft, 
but nothing ever resulted from the 
attempts. It is not expected that any 
costly pillar wMl be placed at the head 
of the grave, but it is thought that the 
State should have sufficient pride to 
expend a few hundred dollars .for the 
purpose. If this is not done, in the 
course of a few generations it will not 
be known to the general mass of 
people of the State, who the first 
Governor of it was. As it is, at the 
present, there are thousands of persons 
who could not answer the question if 
it was propounded to them, or tell 
where his remains are interred. 

Gov. Jennings has been dead fifty- 
four years, and with the death of each 
pioneer his memory passes that far out 
of recollection. Besides holding the 
highest office of the State, Gov. Jen- 
nings w r as Grand Master of the Order 
of Free Masons, from October, 1823, 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



121 



to October, 1826, and it lias recently 
been suggested that this fraternity 
should use its influence to carry out 
the contemplated action." 

JONATHAN JENNINGS, Gov- 
ernor of Indiana, was born near Hun- 
terdon, New Jersey. He received an 
academic education and removed to 
the Northwest Territory late in the 
last century. "When the Territory of 
Indiana was organized he became the 
first delegate, taking his seat after 
some opposition. He was three times 
elected, and when Indiana became a 
State he was its first Governor. In 
this office he served for six years, also 
acting as Indiana Commissioner in 
1818, by appointment of President 
Monroe. At the conclusion of his 
term as Governor he was elected Rep- 
resentative in Congress, and was 
re-chosen for four terms in succession. 
He was nearly all his life in public 
office, and filled his places acceptably. 
He died near Charlestown, July 26, 
1834. 

Squire Boone, who emigrated from 
Kentucky to Harrison county, in 1806, 
with his sous, Isaiah, Enoch, Moses 
and Jonathan, and five nephews, 
formed a settlement known as 
"Boone's settlement," in what is now 
Boone township. For years he lived 
a quiet life in this retired locality, 
hunting and enjoying himself in his 
favorite pastime. "When he died, he 
was buried in a cave in this county, 
reference to which has already been 
made in these pages. The name of 
Boone is so interwoven with the his- 



tory of Kentucky, that even the sur- 
rounding states seem to gather luster 
from the name. 

Others of the early settlers of the 
county were more or less prominent 
men in its early history. Spier Spen- 
cer, the first Sheriff, held other impor- 
tant positions, and was Captain of a 
company in the battle of Tippecanoe, 
where he was killed. Geo. F. Pope 
was the first clerk of the common 
pleas court, and Moses Boone was 
one of the Judges of the same court, 
etc., etc. 

Slavery. — The Indiana Territory, 
as has already been stated, was organ- 
ized under the ordinance of 1787, 
which prohibited the introduction of 
slavery into any of the domains of the 
Northwest Territory, and as we have 
seen, many of the early settlers came 
here to escape the evils of negro 
slavery. Some few, however, brought 
negroes with them, and if slaves, at 
once took steps to liberate or emanci- 
pate them. The old court records are 
encumbered with many entries on the 
subject, which no doubt will be of 
interest to the reader of to-day. The 
following, under date of January 14, 
1809, will serve as a sample. "This 
day, John Smith and a negro man 
named Jacob Ferrell, aged about 
thirty-four years, and lately held by 
the said John Smith in the State of 
North Carolina as a slave, came before 
me, Clement Nance, Clerk pro tern of 
the Court of Common Pleas of the 
county of Harrison, and it is agreed, 
by and between the said John Smith 



122 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



and the said Jacob Ferrell, that the 
said Jacob Ferrell is to serve the said 
John Smith, his heirs, etc., from the 
date hereof, until the 14th day of 
January, 1822, and as a compensation 
for such services the said John Smith 
engages to give unto the said Jacob 
Ferrell on demand one gray mare four 
years old, named "Til," and a red cow 
with a white face, as prescribed by a 
law of this territory, entitled an act 
concerning the introduction of negroes 
and mulattoes into this territory.'" 
"Attest: Clement Nance." 

"Know all men by these presents, 
that I, Clement Nance, of Harrison 
county, Indiana Territory, do this day 
make the following statement and 
commit to record in the Clerk's office 
of said county, to- wit : In the year 
1799, when I was an inhabitant of 
Pittsylvania county, Virginia, for and 
in consideration of the sum of $200 
to me in hand paid by a certain negro 
man named "Will," as a compensation 
to me for the service I was entitled to 
receive from him as a slave, and that 
I did then and there emancipate or 
set free the said negro, Will, who has 
ever since enjoyed the blessings of 
freedom, and the said negro man is no 
resident in this territory. I do by 
these presents confirm and establish 
his emancipation. 

"Witness my hand and seal this 
10th day of May, 1809." 

"Clement Nance." 

Indiana Territory, ) ^ M 
Harrison county. ) ° 



"This day Clement Nance came 
personally before me, Clerk of the 
Court of Common Pleas for said 
county, and acknowledged and deliv- 
ered the within instrument of writ- 
ing to be his act and deed. Where- 
fore I have admitted the same to 
record in my office." 

"Geo. F. Pope, Clerk." 

Act of Assembly. — It has been said 
that the native American mind tends 
toward self-government as naturally as 
the babe turns to the maternal font 
for nourishment. The early organiza- 
tion of Harrison county, when the 
entire Territory of Indiana had but a 
few thousand population and but two 
counties, is proof of that proposition. 
It was the third county formed, and 
came into existence during the Terri- 
torial period. Following is the act of 
the Legislature creatine: it : 
An Act to Form a new County out 

of the Counties of Knox and 

Clark. 

1. Be it enacted by the Legislative 
Council and House of Representatives, 
and it is hereby enacted by the authority 
of the same, That from and after the 
first day of December next, all that 
part of the Counties of Knox and Clark, 
which is included in the following 
boundaries, shall form and constitute 
a new county, that is to say: Begin- 
ning at the point on the river Ohio, 
Avhere the meridian line from which 
the ranges take number, strikes the 
same; thence due north to the present 
Indiana boundary line ; thence with 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



123 



the said boundary line to the intersec- 
tion of the same, by the line which 
divides the fourth and fifth ranges 
east ; thence with the latter to the 
above mentioned boundary line, be- 
tween the Jeffersonville and Vincennes 
districts, and with the same to the 
intersection of the line dividing the 
fifth and the sixth ranges ; thence with 
the said range line until it strikes the 
Ohio river, and thence down the same, 
with the meanders thereof to the place 
of beginning. 

2. Beit further enacted, That the 
said county shall, from and after the 
said first day of December next, be 
known and designated by the name 
and style of the County of Harrison, 
and it shall enjoy all the rights, privi- 
leges and jurisdictions, which to a 
separate county do or may properly 
appertain and belong: Provided 
always, That all suits, pleas, plaints, 
actions and proceedings, which may, 
before the said first day of December, 
have been commenced, instituted and 
depending within the now counties of 
Knox and Clark, shall be prosecuted 
to final judgment and effect in the 
same manner as if this act had never 
been passed. And provided also, That 
the Territorial and county levies or 
taxes, which are now due within the 
bounds of the said new county, shall 
be collected and paid in the same 
manner, and by the same officers, as 
tluy would have been if the erection 
of said new county had not taken 
place. 

'4. Be it further enacted, That the 



pages of the General Court, or some 
one or more of them, shall hold a 
Circuit Court in the said county on the 
last Monday of May, annually; and 
that the terms of the Common Pleas 
of the said county, wherein business 
of a civil and criminal nature is trans- 
acted, shall be at the following annual 
periods, to-wit : On the second 
Wednesdays of January and May, 
and the third Wednesday of Septem- 
ber ; and the three other annual ses- 
sions thereof, which are intended by 
law for county purposes, at the fol- 
lowing periods, to-wit : On the second 
Wednesdays of March, July and 
November. 

4. And be it further enacted, That 
in compliance Avith the wishes of -the 
good people within the bounds of 
the said new county, the said seat 
of justice, thereof, shall be and is 
hereby at the town of Corydon. 
Jesse B. Thom is, 

Speaker, House of Representatives. 
John Kick Jones, 

President of the Legislative Council. 
Approved, October 11, 1808. 

William Henry Harrison. 

The Oownty Organized. — The 
county was formally organized under 
the above act, and the municipal 
machinery duly set in motion. The 
first term of the Court of Common 
Pleas was held in 1809. The first 
page of the record is gone, and on the 
second page* the first entry is : "Spier 
Spencer produced a commission from 
the Governor of the Territory, appoint- 



124 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



ins; him Sheriff for the said county." 
Moses Boone was sworn in as the 
third Judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas. The first grand jury impaneled 
in the county was sworn in as follows : 
Dennis Pennington, foreman, and John 
Smith, Wm. Nance, George Gresham, 
Reuben Wright, Tice Light, Henry 
Rice, Geo. Crutchfield, John Livanks, 
Jacob Conrad, Eli Wright, Wm.Vest, 
Edward Smith, Lawrence Black, John 
Smith, Sr., William Branham, Isaac 
Richardson, John Hickman, Lawrence 
Bell, AVilliam Pennington and William 
Sands. As the records quaintly note 
it, " were sworn as a Grand Jury for 
the United States, in and for the body 
of the County of Harrison, and having 
received their charge from Thos. Ran- 
dolph, Attorney-General for the Indiana 
Territory, retired from the bar to con- 
sult of and make up their presentments 
and indictments." 

Three indictments Avere returned 
by the grand jury, to-wit : One 
against Benijah Brown, and Polly 
his wife, for living together as man 
and wife, when each had a wife and 
husband living ; also against James 
Bruce for " firing the woods ;" also 
against Christopher Fort and Phcebe 
Elder for living together in adultery. 
Whereupon, the grand jury having 
nothing further to present, were dis- 
charged. 

At the April term of court, there 
were present, Patrick Shields, John 
G. Pfreiner and Moses Boone, judges. 
The first thing done at this term was 



ordering the county levy as follows : 
To James Shields, for build- 
ing a jail, - - $200.00 
" James Shields, for clearing 

public grounds^ - 29.75 

" Philip Bell, for a wolf 

scalp, - - - .75 

" John Smith, ■ for a wolf 

scalp, ... .75 

" John Smith, for two wolf 

scalps, - - - 1.50 

" Mrs. Branham, per acc't, 3.25 
" Geo. T. Pope, clerk, for 

i iffice services, - - 30.00 
" Lane, per account, - 1-4.50 

" Spier Spencer, for extra 

office service, 50.00 



1330.50 
By county levy, $409.20 

" Sheriff's commission 

for collecting, - 32.56i 

It was ordered that the sheriff of 
Harrison county collect agreeable to 
law, etc. On each horse, mare, etc., 
above three years old a tax of fifty 
cents was levied ; on each " stud 
horse" the rates of the season; on each 
ferry, except Geo. Doup's, four dol- 
lars — on Geo. Doup's ferry two dol- 
lars ; on each tavern licensed four 
dollars ; on each $100 laud valuation 
ten dollars. It was ordered that 
taverns be rated as follows : 

For each one quart of whiskey, 37£ 
cents ; for each one quart of "bounce," 
37i cents ; for each one quart of 
brandy, (French,) 50 cents ; for each, 
one quart of brandy, (peach), 37£ 
cents ; for each one pint of bounce, 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



125 



25 cents ; for each one pine of brandy, 
(French), 25 cents ; for each one pint 
of brandy, (peach), 18f cents ; for 
each one-half pint of brandy, (French), 
— - cents ; for each one-half pint of 
brandy, (peach), 12A cents; for a 
breakfast, dinner and supper, each 
25 cents; for cold breakfast, dinner 
and supper, each lOf cents ; horse, 
one night stabling and hay, 25 cents; 
for feed of grain, per gallon, 12 J 
cents; lodging, per night, 12i- cents. 

The following appears at this term 
of the court : George T. Pope, as 
clerk Of the Court of Common Pleas, 
for Harrison county, with John Har- 
bison and Dennis Pennington as 
seem'ities, entered into bond in the 
penalty of $1000, payable to the. Gov- 
ernor of the Indiana Territory, etc. 

Some of the entries in the quaint 
old court records sound a little amus- 
ing to us at this day, with four-score 
years resting on them. The follow- 
ing for instance : 

Ordered that the "mark" of John 
Lapp, to-wit : A "crop" oft' the right 
ear and an "under-bit" in the same 
ear, and that his "brand," to-wit : "H" 
be admitted to record. 

Ordered that John Hickman's 
••mark", to-wit : A "crop" oft' the left 
ear, and "under-bit" and "upper-bit" 
in the right ear be admitted to record. 

Ordered that the "mark" of Tice 
Light, to-wit : A "crop" off the right 
ear and an "under-bit" in the left ear- 
be admitted to record. 

Ordered that the "mark" of Edward 
Smith, to-wit: A "smooth crop" oft 



the right ear and a "half crop" off the 
left ear in the underside, be admitted 
to record. 

Ordered that the "mark" of Eli 
Wright, to-wit : A "crop" and under- 
bit" off the left ear, and that his 
"brand to-wit : "E" on the near shoul- 
der be admitted to record. 

Ordered that the "mark" of Law- 
rence Bell, to-wit: A "hole" in the 
left ear, and a "half crop" in the under 
side of right ear, and his "brand" 
to-wit : "L. B.," be admitted to record. 

Ordered that the "mark" of Benja- 
min Brown, to-wit: An "under-bit" 
in the right ear and a "swallow fork 11 
in the left ear be admitted to record. 

For the benefit of the generation 
coming on, who are ignorant of what 
was termed "marks 1 ' of stock, by our 
pioneer fathers, a word of two of 
explanation is given herewith. A 
'•mark" consisted of chipping or cut- 
ting the ears of stock so that it might 
be known by the owner. Two men 
in the same immediate neighborhood 
could not have the same mark, and 
for this reason, when a man selected 
or adopted a "mark," he reported it 
in court, where it was ordered to 
record, and this prevented any one 
else in his neighborhood "infringing" 
on it. In the early times when every- 
body let their stock run at large, 
"marks" were necessary that each man 
might know and recognize his own 
animals. An "under-bit" was a small 
notch cut in the under edge of the 
ear; an "overbit" the same except it 
was cut in the upper edge. A "crop" 



126 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



was tin- tip end of the ear chipped 
off ; a "half-crop" the ear split at the 
end, and half of it clipped off; a 
"swallow fork" was a notch cut in the 
end of the ear, etc. 

Towns! tips Laid Off. — The first 
account we have of townships being 
laid off was at a term of court held 
March 9th, 1809, a record of which 
is as follows : "Ordered that the 
county of Harrison be laid off into 
townships, and that one township 
shall begin on the west county line,- 
and run with the lines dividing town- 
ship 3 and 4, to the second of the 
second range ; thence one mile south, 
thence cast with the section line to 
the east count) - line — to lay on the 
south of the said section line, and 
shall lie called Exeter Township. 

"That another township shall begin 
at the west county line on the boun- 
dary line between the Vincennes and 
Jeffersonville districts of public lands, 
and to run with said boundary to the 
east county line, thence with said 
county line to the corner of Exeter 
township, thence with Exeter town- 
ship to the west county line, thence 
with the same to the beginning, and 
shall be called Harrison township. 

"All north of the boundary line, 
between the Vincennes and Jeffer- 
sonville district of Public lands, shall 
be one township, and shall be called 
Washington township. 11 

The first information we have of 
an election in the county is embraced 
in the following order: 

"Ordered that an election for Rep- 



resentative, for Harrison county, to 
serve in the General Assembly of 
the Indiana Territory shall be held 
at the house of Mr. John Kellar, in 
Exeter township ; at the house of 
Mr. Peter Copperas in Harrison 
township, and at the house of Capt. 
Beck in "Washington township, agree- 
ably to a law of said Territory, 
authorizing a division of the counties 
in the same into election townships." 

On the 10th of March, 1809, under 
order of the Court, George Pfreiner, 
Spier Spencer and Geo. F. Pope were 
appointed commissioners to draft 
plans for a jail, and let the contract 
to the lowest bidder, April next, for 
buikling the same. The Sheriff was 
ordered to let to the lowest bidder 
the contract to clear off one lot of the 
public ground in Corydon, and the 
streets adjicent to it, and to build a 
strong pound on the public ground 
agreeable to law. 

At the April term of court, a jail 
was ordered built on the following 
plan : "Foundation of stone, sunk six 
inches in the ground and appear six 
inches above the ground ; four sills 
of good oak or hone} r locust, the side 
sills to face eighteen inches one way, 
and twelve the other, laid flat on the 
s-tone foundation, the jail to be twenty 
feet by twelve, the side and end logs 
to be fifteen inches square, of good 
sound timber, with "dove-tailed' 1 
notches, a partition of good sound 
timber (oak, beech, or honey locust) 
hewed 15 inches square, the lower 
floor of the same kind of timber, 




fh« olA^raf? ^apirol ar ?orydor\,l8l3 to 1X25. ' 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



129 



hewed fifteen inches square, the 
upper floor of same kind of timber, 
hewed twelve inches square, laid close 
with plates on the same, the jail to 
be one story high, a roof of joint 
shingles nailed on, two doors, one in 
the end, the other in the partition, 
the shutters of two-inch oak plank, 
doubled, with four spikes in each 
• cross-plank, to have good strong- 
locks, a grate in each room, the liars 
firm, twelve inches long, etc., all to 
be finished by the first day of next 
November court." 

The second grand jury impaneled 
in the co nty was at the May term 
of the Common Pleas Court, ar.d con- 
sisted of "Richard M. Heth, foreman, 
Isaac V. Buskirk, James Shields, 
Pearce Chamber! in, Joseph Decker, 
George Gresham, Sanford Ransdall, 
Robt. Cochran, Sack Pennington, 
George Given, Edward Smith, Rich- 
ard McMahon, Andrew Johnson, 
John Dawson, Paul French, Benj. 
Brown, and Isaiah D. Boone. They 
were "sworn as grand jurors," as the 
old records put it, "for the United 
states, for the body of Harrison 
county, and having received their 
charge retired from the bar to con- 
sult and to make up their present- 
ments and indictments." 

The above will doubtless suffice as 
samples of the early court proceedings. 
Vast changes have taken place since 
tin- courts were held from which these 
extracts are made, and the courts 
themseh is have changed as much as 
anything else. 



The Capital. — Corydon, the scat of 

justice, and the legal and commercial 
center of the county, dates back to 
180s, and was founded by (Jen. YVm. 
Henry Harrison. It is beautifully 
situated in a valley, at the junction of 
Big and Little Indian Creeks, and is 
about twenty-five miles from New 
Albany by rail, and ten miles from the 
Ohio river at the nearest point. Many 
evidences of its age are seen in the 
hoary trees growing in yards and 
lawns, and along the streets, and on 
Indian Creek, which latter are said to 
have been planted there to protect the 
banks. They now present a unique 
appearance as they guard and protect 
the boundaries of farms, and evince an 
age of improvement not elsewhere seen 
in the State. Few towns in Indiana 
perhaps, as old as Corydon, present as 
handsome and youthful appearance. 
Her four- score years sit lightly upon 
her, and the stranger would never 
dream that she is reeling off the last 
quarter of her century. Old towns 
are usually known by tumble-down, 
dilapidated buildings, which show the 
"ivy clinging to their moldering 
towers," or "hoary lichens springing 
from the disjointed stones," while gen- 
eral decay seems to prevail everywhere, 
and mocked by universal desolation, 
"the bat, shrill shrieking, woes its flick- 
ering mate," and the '-serpent 
hisses and the wild bird screams." Not 
so is Corydon. There is nothing to 
indicate its age but the grand old trees 
which spread their gigantic arms shel- 
tering!) over the town. An air of 



130 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



thrift prevails, indicating a permanent 
and well-founded prosperity. 

Corydon, as stated, was laid out by 
Gen. Harrison in 1808. In the old 
court records, under date of March 9, 
1809, we find the following: 

"Henry Heth and Wm, Henry Har- 
rison came personally into court and 
acknowledged themselves indebted 
to the Court of Common Pleas of Har- 
rison county in the sum of $500 ; pro- 
vided the said Heth and Harrison do 
not on or before June, 1812, convey 
by a good and sufficient deed to the 
said court, for the use of the said 
county, for public ground, two lots in 
the town of Corydon in said county, 
containing one acre and four perches 
each, being heretofore laid off by them 
for the public ground in said town. 1 ' 
This seems to have been the original 
plat of the town, and when it was laid 
off, none perhaps dreamed it 'would 
ever become the capital of the State. 

In 1811 a substantial court house 
was built, which is still standing, and 
is being used for holding of the 
courts. It is the old fashioned style 
of architecture, followed almost uni- 
versally in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana 
and Illinois, fifty to a hundred years 
ago in court house buildings, being 
square, the roof running up to a point 
in the center, or a cupola. This build- 
ing is forty feet square, two stories 
high and of blue limestone in irregular 
courses, from four to ten inches thick. 
It stands as firm and solid as if it was 
good for another four score years. 
The window sills are of a buff or 



yellow stone, which is found near 
Salisbury, some ten miles from Cory- 
don, and which, when quarried, is so 
soft that it may be hewed to any shape 
with an axe or cut with a hand- saw, 
but which hardens on exposure to the 
sun and air. Corydon became the 
seat of government of the Indiana ter- 
ritory in 1813 under the administration 
or about its close, of acting Gov. Gib- 
son. Following is the act for its 
removal : 

An Act to Remove the Seat of Gov- 
ernment FROM THE TOWN OF VlN- 
CENNES TO THE ToWN OF CoRYDON, 

in the County of Harrison. 

1. Beit enacted by the Legislative 
Council and House of Representatives^ 
and it is hereby enacted by the authority 
of tin sam-e, That from and after the 
first day of May next, the seat of Gov- 
ernment of the Indiana territory shall 
be and the same is hereby fixed and 
established in the town of Cory- 
don, until altered by law ; audit shall 
be the duty of all officers and all 
other persons in any way concerned 
in administering the government of 
said territory, and all persons whose 
duty it is to be at the seat of govern- 
ment of the said territory, or whose 
functions are or ought to be exercised 
at the said seat of government, to 
remove the books, records, papers and 
proceedings of whatever nature or 
kind they may be, in anywise relating 
to their offices, to the said town of 
Corydon, in the said county of Harri- 
son, or before the said first day of May 
next, and it shall be the duty of all ' 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



131 



the said officers, and all persons whose 
duty it is to be and attend at the seat 
of government, to be and attend at the 
said town of Corydon, in the county 
of Harrison, from and after the said 
first day of May next, then and there 
to attend to, perform, and do whatso- 
ever to their said offices doth belong 
or in any wise appertain ; and all per- 
sons in any wise concerned are hereby 
required to govern themselves accord- 
ingly. 

There are several other sections of 
the act which pertain to the removal 
of the courts, etc., and are not of 
interest here. 

There is a tradition among the peo- 
ple of Corydon, that the first session 
of the Legislature held in their town 
after the removal of the capital, was 
held under a large elm tree standing- 
above the railroad depot, on a sort of 
by-street, or rather in it, for it stands 
in the middle of the street. This must 
be incorrect. Dillon's History of 
Indiana says : "By an act which was 
approved on the 11th of March, the 
seat of Government of the Indiana 
Territory was declared to be fixed at 
tbe town of Corydon, 'from and after 
the first day of May, 1813.' After a 
session of about forty days, the Gen- 
eral Assembly, in conformity with ;i 
joint resolution of both houses, was 
prorogued by a proclamation of Gov. 
Gilison, to meet at Corydon, on the 
first Monday of December, 1813." It 
is not likely then, that the Legislature 
held its first session under the "said 
elm tree," as it would make rather an 



"airy" chamber for the winter months 
even in this latitude. But, not to spoil 
a pretty tradition, there was a called 
session of the Legislature during the 
next summer (1814) and as the elm 
tree in question, stood directly in front 
of the house in which the first two or 
three sessions of the Legislature were 
held, what is more probable then, that 
the Solons, when they became heated 
in debating the "weighty measures of 
State," they should retire to the invit- 
ing shade of the hoary elm, where 
they would not only have more air, 
but more room. The tree is a most 
magnificent one, at least five feet in 
diameter just above the ground ; not 
less than a hundred feet in diameter 
from tip to tip of its longest boughs, 
and when clothed in a full robe of 
summer foliage would lack little of 
sheltering the present Legislature of 
the State. However, the tree is three- 
quarters of a century older than it 
was when it served as a Legislative 
chamber. 

Three years after the capital was 
removed to Corydon, (in 1816) Indi- 
ana became a State, and the town con- 
tinued to be the capital until 1825, 
when it was removed to Indianapolis. 
Following is the full text of the 
report of the commissioners appointed 
under act of the Legislature of the 
State, to locate a permanent seat of 
Government : 

Report. — "That in conformity of a 
proclamation 'of Jonathan Jennings, 
Governor of said State, the under- 
signed met at the house of William 



132 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



Connor, on the west fork of the White 
river, and after having taken the oat lis 
of affirmath ns respectively required 
by law, proceeded to the execution of 
the duties assigned them by an act of 
the General Assembly of the State of 
Indiana, entitled 'an act to locate the 
permanent seat of Government of 
Indiana,' approved January 11, 1820. 
In discharging their duty to the State- 
the undersigned have endeavored to 
connect with an eligible site, the 
advantages of a navigable stream and 
fertility of soil, while they have not 
been unmindful of the geographical 
situation of the various portions of the 
Stat • to its politic 1 center as regards 
both the present and future interests 
of its citizens. The undersigned com- 
missioners as aforesaid, in pursuance 
of the act of the General Asseml >ly 
above mentioned, and of an act of 
Congress, entitled 'An act to enable 
the people of the Indiana Territory to 
form a Constitution and State Govern- 
ment, and for admission of such State 
into the Union upon an equal footing 
with the other States and for other 
purposes,' and also respecting the 
location of certain sections of land, to 
be granted for the seat of Government 
in the State of Indiana, proceeded to 
select and locate, and have selected 
and located as a permanent site for 
the seat of Government, for and on 
behalf of the said State, two thousand 
five hundred and sixty acres of land, 
equal to four entire sections, being 
sections numbered one and twelve, 
east and west fractional sections num- 



bered two, east fractional sections 
numbered eleven, and as much of the 
east part of west fractional section 
numbered three, to be set off by a 
north and south line, as will complete 
the quantity of two thousand five 
bundled and sixty acres of land as 
aforesaid, in township fifteen of range 
three east. 

Given under our hands, this 7th 
day of June, 1820. 

George Hurst, 
John Connor, 
Stephen Ludlow, 
Joseph Bartholomew, 
John Tiftok, 
John Gileland, 
Thos. Emerson, 
Frederick Eapp, 
Jesse B. Durham. 
Attest: B. J. Blytiie, Clerk. 
Corydon, although eighty years old, 
and once the capital of the State, is 
still a small place. The United 
States census of 1830 gave it 763 
population, and it has probably 
increased but little since. Judging 
by the increase in population of the 
county, which, in 1860, had 18,551 
population; in 1870 it had 19,913, 
and in 1880 it had 21,326, it is very 
little larger than it was at the begin- 
nine; of the civil Avar. Though slow 
in growth, its growth' has been sub- 
stantial, as seen in the character of 
public buildings, churches and private 
residences. 

In addition to the old capitol build- 
ing, used for a court house, the county 
has erected on the public square, a 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



133 



handsome, modern, two-story brick 
building for public offices, which com- 
prise as elegant, commodious aixl secure 
offices as may lie found in any county 
in the Slate. Few counties, too, have 
a more elegant school-house than that 
which does credit to the town of Cory- 
don. Several handsome churches 
grace the place, and beautiful resi- 
dences are to lie seen on every street. 
The Imsiness is equal to that of any 
inland town of it- size in the southern 
part of the State. An editorial in 
the Western Aiyi/.s of May 6, 1851, 
thus sings the praises of Corydon: 

"There are some things for which 
our town is particular adapted, and 
to these objects our attention and our 
energies should bediiected. There is 
no place better situated for schools 
than Corydon in the whole southern 
portion of Indiana, Its location is 
just suited to that purpose. It lies in 
the 'tend of the Ohio river, which 
flows within twelve miles of us on the 
south and west, and eighteen miles on 
the east; off the line of any great 
thoroughfare, in the midst of a pleas- 
ant rural district, and within a few 
hours' drive of New Albany and Louis- 
ville; nestled down between the hills, 
in a delightful little valley through 
which Hows on the south and west of 
the town, two clear, bright streams of 
water; surrounded by beautiful scen- 
ery; about us on every side smiliug 
farms, and forests laden in spring-time 
with the rich perfume of wi'd flowers 
and vocal with songs of birds, which 
may he enjoyed free of charge and 



without the unpleasant surroundings 

of a crowded concert room. The vil- 
lage and neighborhood is remarkably 
healthy; during the prevalence of the 
cholera for the last two years we did 
not have a single case. < >ui commu- 
nity, both in town and neighborhood, 
is moral and intellectual. Wealready 
have two good schools, under the direc- 
tion of competent and skillful teach- 
ers, and everything else to make it a 
pleasant place of residence." 

Elizabeth is one of the most thriv- 
ing villages in the county, outside of 
the county seat. It is situated in a 
southeas erly direction from Condon, 
some twelve miles distant, on sec'ion 
3.'? of Posey townsh'ip. Au excellent 
farming region surrounds it, with a 
gently undulating or level continuation 
of the prairie-like "flat woods." It 
contains the usual mercantile, manu- 
facturing and mechanical establish- 
ments necessary for the accommodation 
of the surrounding community. By 
the census of 1880, it had a popula- 
tioo of 282 souls. 

Bridgepokt is situated on the Ohio 
river, about fifteen miles from Cory- 
don, in the north-east corner of Posej 
township. It is a small place, located 
in a fertile valley, though a narrow 
one, anil its principal business is -Lip- 
ping by river. There are the usual 
business houses, etc., common in small 
river towns. 

Middi.kiowx, or New Middletown, 

as commonly called, is situated on the 

mad to Elizabeth, and about half way 
from that place to Corydon. It is in 



134 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



Webster township, on section 14, and 
is just east of the eastern boundary 
of the "barrens." It is a growing; 
village, settled mostly by German citi- 
zens, who are industrious, thriving and 
economical, and are building up a 
prosperous community. The village 
is surrounded by a rich, prairie-like 
plain, divided into good-sized, well- 
arranged farms, yielding wheat pro- 
fusely, good corn and hay crops, also 
choice fruits. The village has the 
usual mercantile and mechanical estab- 
lishments of small country villages in 
agricultural neighborhoods. 

Buena Vista is a small cross roads 
village in Taylor township, some 
twenty miles south-east of Corydon. 
The region around about it is some- 
what rough and hilly, ami more 
adapted to fruits than to agriculture. 
The neighborhood is noted as being 
the place where the Harrison county 
aerolite fell in 1859. The circum- 
stances of this phenomenon, which 
should be of considerable interest in 
the history of Harrison county, are 
something as follows : "About four 
o'clock in the afternoon of the '28th of 
March, a slight alare was observed by 
a few of the residents, although such 
phenomena are usually noticed only 
from ten to fifteen miles away; this 
was followed by loud bursting reports, 
succeeded by continuous reverbera- 
tions along and across the deep valleys 
and high ridges, which seemed to 
some of the hearers to ecpial the dis- 
charge of many batteries of heavy 
artillery in continued succession. On 



the spot the terror was intense ; the 
flash of fire and frightful explosion, 
followed by a rushing, rattling noise 
in the air, and the crashing and tearing 
of the fragments against the trees, are 
to this day vivid in the memory of 
the older inhabitants. Mrs. Goldsmith 
saw one of the pieces fall on the road 
in front of her house, and picked it 
up while still warm. She said that 
not one of the men, women and child- 
ren were frightened, but dogs ran howl- 
ing to their masters for protection; 
birds were first paralyzed and then 
driven in furious flight; horses snorted 
in agony of fear, and cattle bellowed 
in wild confusion." This smacks 
much of Joe Mulhatton, but the fact 
that it occurred before Joe arose to 
such notoriety in the fields of romance, 
relieves him of the burden of bearing 
it. This differs from Joe's wonderful 
stories in this regard — it is true. 

The following account was written 
on the spot immediately after the fall 
of the meteorite, by Dr. E. S. Crosier, 
now of New Albany, and a scientist, 
whose veracity is unquestioned: "On 
the 28th of March, 1859, about four 
o'clock p. m., three loud reports in 
rapid succession, resembling the dis- 
charge of artillery, were heard in 
Harrison and adjoining counties. 
The reports were preceded by a 
sudden glare of light, peculiar, and 
by no means like a flash of light- 
ning. There was a dark cloud 
overhead at the time, and the reports 
were followed by a long rumbling 
sound, which proceeded in a south- 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



13c 



west direction, lasting probably a 
minute and a half. The peculiar 
reports were matters of conversation 
with every one, and we were not sur- 
j irised to hear that a fall of aerolites 
had occurred in Taylor township, Har- 
rison county." 

I at once resolved to investigate 
the matter and secure specimens, if 
possible; many and marvellous were 
the stories in circulation in the nei»h- 
borhood. Such a superstitious dread 
prevailed among the people that but 
little effort was made to recover the 
fragments, most of which had pene- 
trated some little distance into the 
earth. Several pieces fell in the door- 
yard of John Lamb ; a small boy saw- 
one of them fall and dug it out of the 
ground. It was about three inches 
long and of an oblong shape. A frag- 
ment, picked up by Mrs. Kelley, near 
Buena Vista, was brought to me; it- 
had been broken after the fall, and 
presented a very peculiar appearance. 
It was covered externally with a thin 
crust resembling a coating of bitumen. 
The inner portion was of a light gray 
color, and interspersed with bright 
metallic specks. It possessed magnetic 
properties in an eminent degree, the 
external coating appearing to attract 
the magnet with greater energy than 
the internal portion. It weighed 
'167.5 grains, troy, and had a specific 
gravity of 3.438. Robt. Somers pro- 
cured for me a much larger piece, 
which weighed one pound and three 
ounces, avoirdupois ; it was 4.4 inches 
long and 2.3 inches through its short- 



est diameter. It also attracted the 
magnetic needle, which proved the 
presence of iron. This piece was dug 
up at Buena Vista by Mr. Goldsmith, 
and had the same external dark crust 
and internal gray appearance as the 
small fragment first described. But 
four pieces were found, although a 
great number must have fallen, as 
over an area of about four miles 
square, almost every individual testi- 
fied to having heard the hissing noise 
made by the falling fragments; it 
having occurred at a favorable time 
in the day for observation — about 
four o'clock, p. m. 

"Three or four loud reports, like 
the bursting of bomb shells, were the 
first intimation of anything unusual ; 
a number of smaller reports followed. 
The stones were seen to fall immedi- 
ately after the first loud explosion. 
Some who were in the woods dis- 
tinctly heard the stones striking 
amongst the trees. A peculiar hissing 
noise was heard, during the fall of the 
stones, for miles around. As a lady 
described it, 'the air seemed as if it 
had, at once, become filled with 
thousands of hissing serpents.' Mr. 
and Mrs. Josiah Crawford were stand- 
ing in their dooryard at the time, and 
hearing a loud hissing sound, looked 
up and saw an aerolite fall just before 
them, burying itself four inches in the 
ground. They immediately dug it 
up. It did not possess any warmth, 
but had a sulphurous smell. Another, 
which they did not find, fell near 
them. 



K!6 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY 



"Two si his of John Lamb were out 
near the barn, when their a tention 
was attracted by a loud, hissing noise, 
noise, and immediately a stone fell 
near them, penetrating some three or 
four inches into the hard earth This 
was of au obloug shape, abou? three 
inches in length, and not more than a 
half inch — and was quite warm 
when first taken from the ground. 
The general appearance and compo- 
sition of tins was the same as those 
above described. Another fell in 
newly plowed ground near by, but 
they were unable to find it." 

.Many different descriptions of the 
strange phenomenon was given at the 
time, and the impression created was 
quite as varied, according to the intel- 
ligence, education or superstition of 
the witnesses to it. Dr. J. C. Clark, 
at Buck creek bridge, eight miles 
north of Buena Vista, and B. P. Doug- 
las, Esq., at Corydon, in describing 
the meteoric occurrence, say there was 
a rushing, whistling windy noise, 
then a rattling, roaring sound like 
the stampede of Gen. Pope's wagon 
train driving recklessly over a wooden 
bridge, then the explosion for a min- 
ute, like the rapid discharge of a park 
of artillery, followed by t he pro- 
longed, rolling reverberations, passing 
from the southwest to the northeast. 
A scientific analysis of the specimens 
was made by the late Prof. J. Law- 
rence Smith, of Louisville, but it 
would only be of interest to the scien- 
tist ; hence, it is omitted from this 
sketch'. 



Laohma is a pleasant and prosper- 
ous little village in Boone township, 
twelve miles from Corydon, as the 
crow flies, and almost a due south 
course. It is on the divide between 
Mosquito and Buck Creeks, and in 
section 32. It is not more than two 
miles from Tobacco Landing, on the 
Ohio river, which is its shipping point. 
This is in the Harrison county natu- 
ral gas region, and when natural n;as 
is properly developed, Laconia may 
become a great manufacturing town. 
Corn, grass and fruits . are the princi- 
pal crops grown in the surrounding 
country. 

Tobacco Lauding was designed by 
its speculative proprietors for the 
most important trading point on the 
river. Warehouses and all other 
appointments for a town were pre- 
pared sufficient for the transaction of 
all the business of the neighboring 
region. But trade would not come, 
and today it is nothing more than a 
steamboat lauding It is noted prin- 
cipally for having been the boyhood 
home of the great traveller and author, 
J. Boss Browne. Doubtless, it was 
the beautiful scenery of the Ohio 
river hills, that educated his mind to 
an appreciation id' natural scenes of 
beauty. 

An enthusiast ic writer thus describes 
the region round about Tobacco Land- 
ing: "From the top of this southern 
promontory of the State, 410 feet 
above the Ohio rivtr, a tine outlook is 
enjo\ed; the ever beautiful Ohio 
circles in a broad sweep, comprising 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



137 



miles of river scenery equaling the 
historic waters of the Rhine; some- 
times a mad, rushing torrent, at others 
a quiet, sleeping expanse. Beyond, in 
Kentucky, the Muldrow range of hills 
are built up againsl the sky ten to 
thirty miles away, while six great, 
sharp, conical, isolated, monument-like 
knobs, the result of past erosive 
energy, seem to pierce the blue 
heavens, solemn in their silent loneli. 
ness, and a measure of the ages neces- 
sary to remove, by denudation, a 
thousand feet of overlying strata." It 
was amid such scenes, that were nur. 
turcd the longings which were embod- 
ied in Browne's first public sketches. 
The neighbors, in kind remembrance 
of him, named his favorite retreat, 
"Ross Browne's Gulch." It was thus 
described by the writer, quoted from 
above: "The walls are steep or pre- 
cipitous, of banded limestone, over 
three hundred feet high. Remote 
from the intrusion of domestic animals, 
the original growth of plants, feathery 
ferns flourish in profusion on the 
shaded benches and eaves. Each 
escarped band of rock was festooned 
with trailing creepers and clinging 
lichens, while the steep face of Doug- 
las 1 Pinnacle would always excite a 
hoy's dreams of romance." 

Mauckport is a flourishing little 
river village. It is situated on the 
Ohio about three miles below Brand- 
enburg, the capital of Meade count)-, 
Ky., and about fifieen miles from 
Corydon. The country is broken and 
hilly around Mauckport ; fruit is 



grown extensively, and corn and wheat 
are the principal crops. 

Keiv Amsterdam is pleasantly sit- 
uated on the Ohio river, eight or ten 
miles below Mauckport. There is a 
good farming region adjacent to it, 
the rich R'pperden and Grassy valleys 
being tributary, and the farmers of 
those fertile sections making this their 
trading and shipping point. The 
village has all" the mercantile and 
mechanical establishments common to 
a thriving place of its "dimensions." 

Valley City is a hamlet about 
three miles east of Amsterdam. 

Lanes'ville, next to Elizabeth, is 
the largest village in the county 
outside of Corydon. It is nestled in 
the deep valley of Indian Creek, on 
section 20 of Franklin township, and 
was named for Gen. Lane. It is situa- 
ted on the New Albany and Corydon 
turnpike road, about ten miles from 
Corydon, and by the census of 1880 it 
had 280 inhabitants. It is settled mostly 
by Germans with a German settlement 
around it. The people are industrious, 
economical and well-to-do, with a good 
number of stores and shops of 
different kinds to supply all their sim- 
ple w ants. The neighborhood is noted 
as having been a favorite resort of the 
savages, and the older citizens remem- 
ber when there were many relics of 
the aborigines to be seen about where 
the village stands. When the first 
whites came to the county they dis- 
covered the little saline spring or 
"seep" at this spot. It attracted the 
attention of Gen. Harrison, who opened 



13S 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



a primitive well and tested the water. 
The well was merely a hollow tree 
"gum 11 sunk some, depth in the soft 
spongy -round. When the water was 
tested it was found that one gallon of 
the brine would, on evaporation, yield 
three-quarters of a pound of good salt. 
It was never utilized to make salt, 
however, as a general business. 

Breckinridge is a small place on 
the turnpike between Lanesville and 
Condon, three miles from Lanesville. 

Palmyra is situated in the extreme 
northern part of the county on the 
New Albany and Vincenues turnpike 
road, and is twelve miles due north of 
Corydon on an air line. It is sur- 
rounded by a level or gently undula- 
ting plateau of well cultivated land, 
originally known as "barrens," which 
show some line meadows and pastures 
and occupied by thrifty farmers. The 
village is a nourishing one, with the 
usual stores and shops common to 
places of its size and demands. This 
is a flue fruit section. The orchards 
are among the finest in the county, 
highly productive, the trees being 
annually loaded with apples and 
peaches of excellent quality. Palmyra 
Lake near by, is a picturesque little 
sheet of water, covering twelve to 
fifteen acres and about the depth of 
fourteen feet of water. The old Indian 
trail from Louisville via Paoli to Vin- 
cennes passes by the south side of the 
lake, and the number of flint arrow 
heads and flint chips formerly to be 
found here, show that the lake was a 
favorite resort of the savages. 



Bradford is a small village in this 
same township (Morgan) that Palmyra 
is located in. 

New Salisbury is a small village on 
the road leading from Corydon to 
Palmyra, about midway between the 
two places. It is in Jackson township 
scarcely a mile north of the Airline 
railroad, which fact will prevent it 
from ever being a great city. 

Byronville is a small place in the 
northeast part of the same township, 
about five miles from New Salisbury. 

Frenchtown, in the north part of 
Spencer township, is a unique little 
village about ten miles northwest of 
Corydon. It was established by the 
Buckhardt or Bogard family, who 
induced about fifty families from 
France to settle contiguous to it. 
They are quiet, industrious citizens, 
possessing all the courtesy character- 
istic of their nation. Many of them 
cultivate vineyards and make wine ; 
some of the vineyards are valuable, 
productive and profitable. Fairdale 
is a hamlet in the same township, just 
north of the Airline railroad. 

Crandall and Corydon Junction 
are stations on the Airline railroad, in 
Harrison county. Crandall is about 
four miles from the east county line. 
Corydon Junction is where the Cory- 
don and New Albany railroad diverges 
from the Airline. Both are small 
places. Bosewood, Boston and old 
North Hampton are small places on 
the Ohio river — the first two named 
in Taylor township, and the last in 
Washington township. 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



139 



Idlewild, Hancock, Worth, Cen- 
tral, Rehoboth are country postoffices. 
Idlewild and Worth are in Scott town- 
ship ; Central is in Heth township, and 
Hancock is in Blue River township. 
A store, postoffice and a blacksmith 
shop are about the extent of their dig- 
nity. 

Hoods. — One drawback to Harrison 
county, for many years, was a lack of 
market facilities. Even after the era 
of railroads it was years before the 
county enjoyed the benefits of these 
modern adjuncts of civilization and 
pr< asperity. For many years the county 
did not even have good wagon roads. 
These highways are indispensable for 
social intercourse and the enjoyment 
of progressive civilization. No people 
can expect fair returns for their labor 
without commerce and means of trans- 
portation for exchanging their com- 
modities. With the best road materia] 
almost, in the world, and an inexhaust- 
ible supply of it, the county was 
extremely backward in building roads, 
and the farmers were almost wholly 
dependent on the river for transport- 
ing their surplus produce to market. 
It was not until the building of the 
Condon and New Albany turnpike 
road that the county began to get out 
of the ruts of old fogyism. About 
1850 the project of building a plank 
road <>r turnpike from New Albany to 
Condon was agitated, and the enter- 
prise met with varying success for two 
or three years before it was finally 
completed. This was at a time when 
the good people of Harrison county 



did not believe railroads could be built 
through the hills of southern Indiana, 
The Western Argus (Corydon) of 
May 11, 1852, recommending the 
building of this road and its great 
value, sa\ < : 

"Look at our geographical position ; 
Ave are in a bend of the Ohio, the river 
running around a large portion of the 
eastern, the entire southern, and a part 
of the western borders of the county, 
leaving us isolated, cut off, (tut of the 
way of any of the great lines of road, 
having a population of 16,000 souls at 
present, all engaged in agriculture; 
and two-thirds of the surplus raised 
must pass over this road to market; 
there is no other outlet, nor can there 
ever be. Our very position fori (ids 
the idea of this route ever being inter- 
fered with by railroads. We are not 
in the line between any great points. 
The Mt. Carmel route from the Fall to 
St. Louis is abandoned in effect, and 
it had as well be, because it would be 
almost as reasonable to talk of sur- 
mounting the Alps, as passing the 
immense range of hills lying between 
us and the Wabash. Old hunters will 
tell you that there are fastnesses that 
exclude wild beasts, let alone railroads. 
This, then, is the road for Harrison 
county, the route by which her pro- 
duce can reach market, etc., etc." 

Scarcely a third of a centurj has 
passed since the above was penned, 
and a first-class railroad crosses Harri- 
son county, and passes the "immense 
range of hills lying between her and the 
Wabash." The Alps have not been 



140 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



surmounted, but they have been tun- 
neled, which amounts to the same 
thing, and are no longer a "barrier to 
railroads, and still the world moves 
on. Another railroad from Corydon 
intersects the Airline, and Harrison 
county thus enjoys all the market 
facilities she needs or can desire. 

After all the ups and downs conse- 
quent upon such enterprises, the road 
was finally completed, and thrown open 
to travel. Being a direct line to New 
Albany, and thence to Louisville, it 
gave Corydon the best market facili- 
ties it had hitherto enjoyed. For sev- 
eral years it was a popular thorough- 
fare, and extensively used, even to the 
building of the Airline railroad, and 
the Croydon & New Albany railroad. 
With all the railroads, it is still much 
traveled, and is valuable to the county. 

Railroads. — Although Harrison is 
one of the old counties in the State, it 
was slow, and among the last to have 
railroads. It is only within the last 
few years that she has known the 
advantages of railroads. As early as 
1.837, a railroad from New Albany to 
Alton, 111., was projected, but it only 
resulted in grading the route from Mt. 
Carmel to' Albion, in Illinois. There 
it rested until 1869, when a charter 
was granted to the New Albanv h St. 
Louis Railroad Company, by the Ind- 
iana Legislature, and shortly after 
another to the St. Louis, Mt. Carmel 
& New Albany Railroad Company, 
by the Legislature of Illinois. In 
July, 1870, these corporations were 
united under the name of Louisville, 



New Albany & St. Louis Railroad 
Company. Its first officers were Hon. 
Augustus Bradly, of New Albany, 
President ; Jesse J. Brown, of New 
Albany, Vice-President; George Ly- 
man, Secretary and Treasurer, and 
Roland J. Dukes, Chief Engineer. 
Several routes were surveyed, and the 
location finally made as follows: From 
Louisville to New Albany bridge and 
the J. M. ifc I. tracks, thence on an air 
line to the Wabash river at Mt. Car- 
mel; thence to Mt. Vernon, 111., where 
it connected with the St. Louis 
Southeastern, now the St. Louis divis- 
ion of the L. A: M. Railroad. Liberal 
subscriptions were made to it by the 
cities of Louisville, New Albany, the 
J. M. & I. Railroad, Floyd county 
and other counties, and other munici- 
palities along the line, amounting in 
the aggregate to $ 1,350,000, and by 
individuals, $1,411,350. Work com- 
menced and went briskly forward 
until the funds were exhausted, when 
operations were for a time suspended. 
In 1875 the company was unable to 
meet its interest and the road was 
sold for $23,000 — a "mere song." 
Eighty miles west of New Albany had 
been graded, and the tunnels and 
trestles mostly completed. Three 
miles of track out of New Albany was 
laid, and trains were running on a 
completed section from Princeton, 
Ind., to Albion, 111. The project lay 
dormant until February, 187'.', when 
a re-organization of the Board was 
effected with St. John Boyle, of Louis- 
ville, as President ; G. C. Cannon, of 



. : — 




HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



143 



New Albany, Vice-President ; and 
George Lyman, of New Albany, Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. After consid- 
erable ups and downs, the road was 
finally completed, and trains run 
through from Louisville to St. Louis 
without change, using the tracks of 
the L. & N. from Mt. Vernon, 111., to 
St. Louis. Within the last few years 
it has been greatly improved, and will 
soon be a first-class road in every 
respect. It must, necessarily, become 
a valuable one, as between the two 
great cities of Louisville and St. 
Louis, it is almost an air line, and is 
more than fifty miles shorter route 
between the two places, than via the 
O. & M. railroad. 

This road passes through the north- 
ern part of Harrison county, about 
seven miles from Corydon at the near- 
est point. While too far from the 
center of the county to prove as ben- 
eficial as it would, did it tap the 
county seat, yet it has been of great 
value to the county in moving much 
of its surplus produce, especially from 
that part of the county most distant 
from the Ohio river. Taken in con- 
nection with the Corydon road, the 
branch from Corydon *to Corydon 
Junction, it forms for the county much 
improved transportation facilities. 



JUDGE WILLIAM A. POR- 
TER was born near Cincinnati, 
Ohio, in January, 1800. His parents, 
who were of the sturdy stock from 
the north of Ireland, died while he 



was yet young, so that he was early 
thrown on his own resources. He 
educated himself, and by alternate 
work and teaching through summer 
and winter was able to pass through 
Miami University, graduating from 
that institution in 1827. He came 
to Corydon in 1828, studied law 
chiefly by his own exertions, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1831. In 
that year he married Miss Elizabeth 
McClelland, of Crawfordsville, and 
brought his wife to her new home on 
horseback behind him. He was 
identified with the pioneer practice 
in Harrison county and his name 
appears oftener than any other on 
the early records. He was a man of 
the strictest integrity and had abound- 
ing reverence for the dignity of his 
profession. His papers were never 
curtailed or abbreviated, and the 
majesty of the law was upheld by 
him in every particular. He was not 
an orator, but his speeches were log- 
ical and full of force and conviction. 
He was Judge of the Probate 
Court from 1831 to 1836. In 1836 
he was elected to the House of Rep- 
resentatives of the State Legislature, 
was re-elected in 1846, serving until 
1849 — the last term as Speaker of 
the House — and in 1849 was elected 
to the State Senate. He made his 
trips to and from Indianapolis on 
horseback with his "leggings" on, 
and his saddlebags under him. He 
was all his life a character in south- 
ern Indiana and retained many 
peculiarities to the last ; but his 



144 



HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY. 



"long head" was trusted for safe 
council until old age deprived him of 
his powers. 

He was truly the Nestor of the 
Indiana bar, and many students 
went out from under his instruction 
to fill high places in the profession. 
He demanded lessons perfect to the 
letter, and his pupils were wont to 
say that a term of study under him 
was equal to a course of lectures. 
He had an eye to their morals also, 
and woe befell the young man who 
attempted to play the fiddle on Sun- 
day, while many a deck of cards 
was slyly hid in a table drawer when 
the Judge unexpectedly entered the 
office. Among his students were 



Walter Q. Gresham, Ex. Postmaster 
General of the United States and 
U. S. District Judge, of U. S. Courts ; 
Col. Wm. Boone, formerly of Louis- 
ville, Ky.; Hon. S. K. Wolfe, de- 
ceased, New Albany, and a number 
of others. The venerable copy of 
Blackstone used by these embryo 
lawyers is now preserved as a curi- 
osity by one of his daughters. Al- 
though not a member of any church, 
he was a rigid Calvinist and died in 
that faith on the morning of Janu- 
ary 23rd, 1884. His law library was 
found after his death to contain 
many old and rare books that he had 
accumulated in his long and honora- 
ble career. 




Jeffers0N County. 



(By W. P. Hendricks" Esq.) 



THE act of Congress, passed July 
13, 1787, is the chief corner-stone 
upon which all of the history of the 
State of Indiana must be founded, and 
is the first fixed point from which we 
may start to ran a random line, and to 
which we must correct back, in order 
to establish permanence in the way of 
the truth of our statements, and in 
order to have them to consist with each 
other. Back of that, are the uncertain 
and incoherent facts of French and 
English occupancy, the tradition of 
Indian possession, and the relics of 
prehistoric habitation. All of these are 
unstable, fragmentary and impersonal, 
so far as Indiana is concerned. 

As all life is of the egg and comes 
from the germ which is the hidden, and 
humanly unknown principle of it, but 
which exists in however so infintes- 
imal and invisible a degree, so Indi- 
ana was hidden in this ordinance of 
1787, and in due season and course of 
time came forth in 1816, and stands 
before the world to-day, a State of 
which any man may be proud to call 
himself her son. 

Article 5, of the ordinance, pro- 



vides, " That there shall be formed in 
the said Territory not less than three, 
. nor more than five States, and the 
boundaries of the States, * * * * 
shall become fixed and established, as 
follows, to-wit: * * * * * The 
Middle States shall be bounded by the 
said direct line : the "Wabash, from 
Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the 
Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north 
from the mouth of Great Miami to 
the said Territorial line, and by the 
said Territorial line ;***** 
and whenever any of the said States 
shall have 60,000 free inhabitants 
therein, such State shall be admitted, 
by its delegates, into the Congress of 
the United States on an equal footino- 
with the original States in all respects 
whatever, and shall be at liberty to 
form a permanent constitution and 
State government, etc." 

Here we have the first definite lines 
of boundary of the State of Indiana. 
Subsequently the State of Michigan 
was taken out of this body of land 
and the State of Indiana was left with 
her present boundary lines. 



14(3 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Indiana Territory was organized 
with a specific name, by the act of 
Congress bearing date May 7. 1800.* 
(1) It provides: "Laws of United 
States," Vol. 3, Page 367. 

"Section 1. Be it enacted by the 
Si note and House of Represent- 
atives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That, 
from and after the fourth day of 
July next, all that part of the terri- 
tory of the United States northwest 
of the Ohio river, which lies to the 
westward of a line beginning at the 
Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the 
Kentucky river, and running thence 
to Fort Recovery, (2) and thence 
north, until it shall intersect the terri- 
torial line between the United States 
and Canada, shall, for the purposes of 
temporary government, constitute a 
separate territory and be called the 
Indiana Territory." In section 5 of 
this act it is ''Provided, That when- 
ever that part of the territory of the 
United States which lies to the east- 
ward of a line beginning at the mouth 
of the Great Miami river, and running 
thence due north, to the territorial line 
between the United States and Can- 
ada, shall be erected into an independ- 
ent State, and admitted into the Union 
on an equal footing with the original 
States ; thenceforth said line shall 
become and remain permanently the 
boundary line between such State and 
the Indiana Territory; anything in 

(2) Page 5. Fort Recovery was built on one o£ the head 
branches of the river Wabash, in the southwest corner of 
Mercer Co,, Ohio, a little east of the present eastern bound- 
ary of Indiana. 



this act contained to the contrary not- 
withstanding;." 

We find, further, in an act of Con- 
gress, approved March 26th, 1804: 
"Entitled an act erectino- Louisiana 
into two Territories, and providing 
for the temporary government thereof . 
Section 12. Laws of the United 
States, Vol. 3, page 608. 

"That the residue of the Province of 
Louisiana, ( i. <?., 'All that portion of 
country ceded by France to the United 
States, under the name of Louisiana,' 
which lies north of an east and west line 
on the Mississippi river, at the thirty- 
third degree of north latitude, and to 
extend west to the western boundary 
of the said cession,) ceded to the 
United States shall be called the dis- 
trict of Louisiana, the government 
whereof shall be organized and admin- 
istered as follows : 

The executive power now vested in 
the Governor of Indiana' territory, 
shall extend to, and be exercised in 
the said district of- Louisiana. The 
governor and judges of the Indiana 
territory shall have power to establish, 
in the said district of Louisiana, infer- 
ior courts, and prescribe their jurisdic- 
diction and duties, and to make all 
laws which they may deem conducive 
to the good government of the inhabi- 
tants thereof," etc. By reference to 
the map you will find what an immense 
territory was comprised within the 
jurisdiction of Indiana territory. It 
took in the whole of the States of 
Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, 
Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



147 



Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, and 
Oregon, Dakota and Washington 
Territory — in short an expanse of 
territory larger than any country in 
Europe at that time. 

Jefferson county was organized by 
virtue of the following act : "An 
act for the division of Dearborn and 
Clark counties, and for the formation 
of a new county out of the said two 
counties. 

1. Be it enacted by tlie Legislative 
Council and House of Representatives, 
and if is hereby enacted, by the author- 
ity of the same, That all that part 
of the counties of Clark and Dear- 
born, included within the following- 
bounds, viz; 'Beginning at the mouth 
of Dog Lick Creek, on the bank of 
the river Ohio, thence to the corner 
of sections five and eight, town four, 
range three, thence north to the 
Indian boundary line, thence with 
the same westwardly to a point oppo- 
site the northeast corner of Clark's 
grant, thence on a direct line to the 
said corner of the said grant, thence 
in a direct line to the Ohio river at the 
lower line of town two north, range 
ten east, thence up the Ohio river 
with the meanders there f to the 
beginning, shall compose one new 
county, called and known by the 
name of Jefferson. 

2. And be it further enacted, That 
it shall be lawful for the coroners, 
sheriffs, constables, and collectors of 
the said counties of Clark, and Dear- 
born, to make distress for all dues 
and officers' fees unpaid by the said 



inhabitants within the bounds of the 
said new county at the time such 
division shall take place, and they 
shall be accountable in like manner 
as if this act had not been passed; 
the courts of Clark and Dearborn 
counties shall have jurisdiction in all 
actions and suits pending therein at 
the time of said division, and they 
shall try and determine the same, 
issue process, and award execution 
thereon. 

3. And be it further enacted, That 
the seat of justice in and for said 
county shall be, and the same is 
hereby established in the town 
of Madison, in town two north, 
range ten east. 

4. And be it further 1 enacted, That 
this act shall commence and be in 
force from and after the first day of 
February, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and eleven. 

Dennis Pennington, 

Speaker of House of Rep. 

Jas. Beggs, 

Px-es. of the Legislative Council. 

Approved November 23rd, 1810. 
William Henry Harrison." 

At the Borough of Yincennes, In- 
diana Territory. 

The boundaries of Jefferson county 
have been modified and changed 
since then, by the formation of the 
counties of Switzerland, Ripley, Jen- 
nings and Scott. The present bound- 
aries are as follows, and contain 
about three hundred and eighty 
square miles: 



148 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Beginning on the Ohio river at a 
point where an east and west line 
dividing fractional section number 
twenty- nine, township two south, 
range ten east, strikes the same ; 
thence west through the center of 
said fractional section twenty-nine 
and sections thirty and twenty-five, 
to the east line of section twenty-six, 
township two, range nine ; thence 
north to the southeast corner of sec- 
tion twenty-three ; thence west to the 
southeast corner of section twenty- 
two ; thence north to the northeast 
corner of section twenty-two ; thence 
west to the southeast corner of 
section thirteen, township two north, 
of range eight east; thence north to 
the southeast corner of township 
three, range eight ; thence north to the 
line dividing sections twenty-four and 
twenty-five; thence west to the north- 
east corner of section twenty-seven; 
thence north to the northeast corner 
of section fifteen; thence west to the 
northeast corner of section seven- 
teen ; thence north to the northeast 
corner of section eight; thence west 
to the northeast corner of section 
seven; thence north to the township 
line; thence west to the northwest 
corner of said township ; thence north 
with the line, dividing ranges seven 
and eight, to the line dividing town- 
ships four and five ; thence east to 
the northeast corner of section three, 
township four, range eight east; 
reserving, however, all that pait of 
the town of Paris, being the north- 
east quarter of section four, in town- 



ship four north, range eight east, 
which is attached to the county of 
Jennings; thence north to t'ie north- 
west corner of section twenty-six, in 
township five, range eight; thence 
east to the range line dividing ranges 
eight and nine ; thence north to the 
northeast corner of section thirteen, 
township five north, range eight east; 
thence east to the southeast corner 
of section eight, township five, range 
nine; thence north to the line divid- 
ing; townships five and six ; thence 
east to the northeast corner of sec- 
tion five, township five north, range 
twelve east ; thence south to the Ohio 
river ; thence with said river to the 
place of beginning. 

Townships. 

The county is divided into ten civil 
townships, viz : Madison, Graham, 
Lancaster, Monroe, Milton, Saluda, 
Shelby, Smyrna, Republican and Han- 
over. 

Milton township is bounded on the 
north by Shelby township, on the east 
by Switzerland county, on the south by 
the Ohio river and on the west by 
Madison township. 

Shelby township is bounded on the 
north by Ripley county, on the east by 
Switzerland county, on the south by 
Milton and Madison townships, and on 
the west by Monroe township. 

Monroe township is bounded on the 
north by Ripley county, on the east by 
Shelby township, on the south by Mad- 
ison township and on the west by Lan- 
e-aster township. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



149 



Lancaster township is bounded on 
the north by Jennings county, on the 
east by Monroe township, on the south 
by Smyrna township, and on the west 
by Graham township and Jennings 
county. 

Madison township is bounded on 
the north by Shelby, Monroe and 
Smyrna townships, on the east by Mil- 
ton township, on the south by the Ohio 
river and Hanover township, and on 
the west by Hanover, Republican and 
Smyrna townships. 

Smyrna township is bounded on the 
north by Lancaster township, on the 
east by Madison township, on the south 
by Madison and Republican townships, 
and on the west by Graham township. 

Graham township is bounded on the 
north by Jennings county, on the east 
by Lancaster, Smyrna and Republican 
townships, on the south by Republi- 
can township and Scott county, and on 
the west by Jennings and Scott 
counties. 

Republican township is bounded on 
the north by Graham and Smyrna 
townships, on the east by Smyrna, 
Madison and Hanover townships, on 
the south by Hanover and Saluda 
townships and Scott county, and on the 
west by Graham township and Scott 
county . 

Hanover township is bounded on 
the north by Madison and Smyrna 
townships, on the east by Madison 
township, the Ohio river and Saluda 
township, on the south by Saluda 
township, and on the west by Repub- 
lican and Saluda townships. 



Saluda township is bounded on the 
north by Hanover and Republican 
townships, on the east by the Ohio 
river and Hanover township, on the 
south by Clark county, and on the 
west by Clark and Scott counties 

History of Townships. 

In the beginning there seems to have 
been only three townships in this 
county, as is found by an entry on the 
records of the Common Pleas Court, 
to- wit : 

"Ordered (July 19, 1812), that 
Elisha Golay be appointed as Inspec- 
tor of Jefferson township at the next 
general election." 

By a second order on the same day, 
and for the same purpose, Jesse Gray 
was appointed as Inspector for Madi- 
son township; and a third order on 
the same page appoints Thomas Tay- 
lor as Inspector of Washington town- 
ship. There is nothing on record to 
show the bounds of these, and there 
is no other mention of the last two. 
The next mention of townships is after 
Indiana had become a State, and, 
under the law of the State, county 
business is under the jurisdiction of a 
Board of County Commissioners. The 
first Board of Commissioners for Jeffer- 
son county was composed of 

Jame's Stolt, 
Nathaniel Hunt, 
Ekillis Wilhtte. 

This board met at the court house 
in Madison on Monday, Feb. 10, 1817, 
and was organized according to law. 
The first business item on the records 



150 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



is : " Thomas Stribling, Sheriff of the 
county aforesaid, filed his protest 
against the jail of this county, which 
was ordered to be filed. 

The court then adjourned till the 
day in course." 

On the 11th day of February, 1817, 
the court passed an order forming and 
bounding Graham township, and 
appointing an election for justice of 
the peace. 

"An order forming and bounding 
Pittsburgh township and appointing 
time and place of election therein, and 
appointing Inspector of election, was 
passed the same day." Pittsburgh 
township commenced "Two miles east 
of the south-east corner of Section 13, 
Township 4 north, Range 11 East, 
(at Switzerland county line); thence 
west with the section line until you 
strike the creek ; thence west with the 
creek and meanders thereof, so as to 
include John Griffin ; thence with the 
section line west one mile to the range 
line ; thence north with the range line 
to the county line." 

This is all of the description on 
record, but the intention, evidently, 
is to follow the county line east to 
the corner of the county, and thence 
south along the county line to the 
place of beginning. 

This was before the organization of 
Ripley county, and the north line of 
Jefferson county was along the Indian 
boundary (see act oiganizing Jefferson 
county in this volume). This line 
commenced at a point in what would 
be the north-west cpiarter of section 



24, range XIII, east town XI north, 
runs thence southwestwardly to the 
range line dividing ranges VI and VII 
east, cutting off a part of the north- 
west quarter of section 31, township 
VII, range VII. This line crossed just 
about the point of junction of the coun- 
ties of Ripley, Decatur and Franklin. 
On the 13th day of February, 1817, 
an order was passed forming and bound- 
ing Madison and Saluda townships. 

Previous to this time, Madiscm town- 
ship had contained all of what is now 
Saluda, Republican, Hanover and 
Smyrna, and a part of Milton town- 
ships. 

On the 5th of March, 1817, Lan- 
caster township was formed, bounded, 
and an Inspector of election appointed 
by order of the court. 

May 12, 1817, Republican and Milton 
townships were formed. Milton, from 
Madison and Pittsburgh townships. 

Shelby township was formed by an 
order of the Board of County Commis- 
sioners, dated February 12, 1823. 
Jesse Gray, 
R. B. Mitchell, 
Jacob Rhoads, 
were County Commissioners at this 
time. Shelby township wiped out the 
portion of Pittsburgh township, which 
was left. 

Hanover township was made by an 
order of the Board, dated Tuesday, 
September 1, 1836. 

Thomas Wise, 
Joseph Wiley, 
John Bo wen, 
comprising the Board at this time. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



151 



Monroe township was ordered to be 
formed from parts of Lancaster and 
Shelby townships on March 11, 1S42. 
Nathan Robinson, 
Wm. Smith, 
John Jewell, 
constituting the Board at this time. 

Shelby township was formed by 
order of Commissioners' Court, June 
16, 1847. 

Campbell Kinnear. 
John E. Gale, 
Nathan Robinson, 
as the Board at this time. 

Topography. — The valley of the Ohio 
river is a great ditch dug down into 
the earth from two to four hundred 
feet below the general level of the 
surface of the country. It is of an 
irregular and uneven course, in a 
southwesterly direction. Along the 
border of Jefferson county it is of a 
depth of about four hundred feet and 
a width of two miles. The sides of 
this ditch are bluffs, more or less 
abrupt. Through this valley, the 
river, three-fourths of a mile wide, 
Minds its way, varying more in its 
course than does the valley itself; at 
one place it is nearer the bluff on the 
Indiana side; at another, nearest the 
Kentucky shore, leaving a fringe, as it 
were, along the river from one hundred 
feet to one mile wide on either bank. 
These bottoms, (as they are called ), are 
alluvial and of rich deep soil, equal 
in productiveness to that of any part 
of the country, and perennial in their 
productiveness, being constantly re- 
newed, by the washings from the bluffs 



and deposits by the river's overflow. 

At frequent intervals the bluffs are 
cut through by streams of greater or 
less size, which have their valleys also, 
a birds-eye view of the whole of which 
would form a pattern, were it drawn 
on a small scale, that would perhaps 
surpass in beauty and quaintness of 
design any worn by the fair women of 
the land, in their laces or embroid- 
eries. 

The topography of the county is 
varied. After 'rising' the bluff from 
the river valley, the land approaches to 
a general level plateau or table land 
in the center of the county. In the 
western part of the county the country 
is of a more rolling character. The 
eastern and northeastern part of the 
county is very hilly and broken, caused 
by Indian Kentuck Creek and tributa- 
ries. 

There is a backbone of land, 
extending along the southern part of 
this State, from the confluence of the 
Wabash and the Ohio rivers, to the 
edge of this county at the southwestern 
border of Hanover township, where it 
turns northwardly through this county 
and thence in an east of north direc- 
tion into the State of Ohio, which 
forms a watershed, dividing the 
waters of the Wabash river toward 
the west and the waters of the Ohio 
river on the east ; so that the water 
falling upon a house in this county, 
not over two and one-half or three 
miles from the Ohio, divides, and 
travels one part to the Muscatatuck 
and White rivers and then into the 



152 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Wabash, and by the Wabash to the 
Ohio, a journey of over 300 miles; 
the other part goes into the Ohio, at 
the distance of three miles, and travel- 
ing down that river about 200 miles, 
there meets the first, and they go on 
to the Gulf quietly together. 

How like the career of brothers 
"of the flesh," leaving the roof tree and 
wandering in long, weary and diverse 
ways through life, at last joining each 
other — reuniting — in the river of death 
and going out into the great ocean of 
eternity together. 

Falls. — Alone; the bluffs of the Ohio 
river are found many beautiful and 
romantic waterfalls and cascades, 
formed by streams of water, cutting 
deep gorges by eroding the Niagara 
and Clinton formations, and the less 
persistent shales and limestone rocks. 
The more rapid weathering of the 
underlying soft, shaly rock produced 
the beautiful waterfall of Clif ty and 
other streams. These falls (Clifty) 
have been cut back from the -Ohio 
river to their present position, at least 
one and one-half miles. (3.) 

Along the river are : Clifty, Dead- 
man's, Crow Falls, at Hanover; Butler's; 
Chain-mill; Falls along the Saluda; 
Dog Falls ; Shelving Rock, near Madi- 
son, and many others. 

Clifty Falls is the most notable one 
of all these, on account of the size of 
the stream of water, and the greater 
descent; one pitch is a sheer descent 
of over SO feet, and others make the 
whole descent; -over 200 feet altogether. 

(3.) Taken from the Atlas of Indiana, published at Chi- 
cago, 1876. 



Also for the remarkable cutting or 
glen through which the water find its 
way out to the river. It is a 
weirdly- wild place, tortuous in its 
course as the trail of a serpent, extend- 
ing in a direct line, from the falls to 
the front line of the bluff, one and 
one-half miles; but following the 
course of the stream it i9 more than 
two miles. 

There is a beauty and grandeur 
about these falls that is second only 
to Niagara. On arriving at the point 
of view of the largest fall, one is shut 
out entirely from the sight of all 
thino-s but surrounding nature below 
and the blue sky above. After the 
first throb of surprise and admiration 
at this wonder of nature has passed 
away, you are impressed with awe, as 
of a presence intangible, but felt, sur- 
rounding you ; and your thoughts are 
led away from the perishable grandeur 
of time, to the imperishable glory of 
eternity ; from the works to the form- 
er of them : and you are forced to 
believe on Him, for He says : "the 
works that I do bear witness of Me." 

The falls and glen make a series of 
pictures always to be remembered by 
the visitor. They are about three and 
one-half miles north-west from Madi- 
son. Clifty Creek is a small stream 
which rises four miles north of Madi- 
son, and flows westwardly for four 
miles, then south-westwardly about 
four miles to the falls; thence south- 
wardly two miles through the gulch 
to the river, making in . all about ten 
miles in length. There is another fall 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



153 



near the mouth of the gulch on the 
eastern side of it, where a small tribu- 
tary of Clifty pours over a cliff of 
about fifty feet in height. In former 
yearn there hung over the brink of 
this precipice, at the side of the 
stream, an old chain-mill, with its long 
chain of buckets, hanging almost to 
the bottom of the fall, into which the 
water was led, which formed the 
power by which the mill was run. 
Here the early settlers had their 
Indian corn and wheat turned into 
meal and Hour. This fall is not so 
grand as the one at the head of the 
gulch, but is very pretty ; the stream 
supplying the water being but a very 
weak one, lacks the energy of rush of 
the main stream. 

Points of View. — There are many 
Points — as they are called by the 
inhabitants — alonsc the bluffs, which 
form grand "lookouts," over land- 
scapes unsurpassed even by those of 
the Rhine; they lack only in the 
works of man, when brought into 
comparison ; in the works of God 
they equal, if not surpass them. 

Of these I will name Cedar Cliff, 
about three miles east of Madison, a 
detached bluff of one and one-half 
miles in length, from which may be 
had views up and down the river, of 
over twelve miles. Eagle Creek val- 
ley separates this from Little Cedar 
cliff, from which there is a view of a 
landscape of magnificent beauty ; and 
if we could make a decided choice 
from among the many beautiful scenes 



on the Ohio, we would say that this 
is the "lie phis ultra.''' 1 

The bluffs around Madison are also 
points of view of fine landscapes. 
Poison Point, below Madison, is 
another of these natural "lookouts." 
The name is not attractive, but was 
given to the place by the early set- 
tlers, because the cattle that grazed in 
that locality died in great numbers. 
It is situated about two miles west of 
Madison, at the east of Clifty Valley. 

About one mile west of this is a 
remarkable freak of nature, in the 
shape of a long and narrow bluff, called 
by the early settlers — and still pre 
serving the name — on account of its 
peculiar shape, "The Devil's Back- 
bone." It is a ridge of land which 
rises directly and abruptly from the 
water's edge to a height of about 
two hundred feet to a sharp spire ; then 
falling away on the other side, less 
abruptly in descent to the valley below 
forming one side of a gulch, which has 
the main bluff for the other side. This 
gulch was called, by the first settlers, 
the "Hog Trough." This ridge is 
entirely detached from the main bluff, 
although of the same formation and 
strata ; as if the instrument used for 
cutting the furrow for the river had 
parted and a splinter from it had 
gouged out this gulch along side of the 
" Backbone," and has there broken off 
or settled back into place a^ain, leav- 
ing this freak of nature as the result. 
In shape it is not at all dissimilar to 
the back of the "wild woods hog," of 
the early settlements, and when covered 



154 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



with a forest of large trees would 
naturally suggest, to the imagination 
of the settler on a hog hunt, a wild 
hog with his bristles erect and head 
.down, digging for the roots upon which 
he subsisted ; having the highest point 
in about the relative position of the 
hump of the shoulders of a hog with 
his head turned down the river, and 
lowered as though rooting ; the back 
drooping as if bent to aid in force. It is 
about one mile in length and about one- 
quarter of a mile in greatest breadth. 

Next below is " College Point," from 
which may be seen some of the finest 
scenery along the entire length of the 
beautiful Ohio. It received its name 
after the college was erected upon it. 

A little down the river from College 
Point is "Fair Prospect Point." This 
is the first of these natural "lookouts," 
upon which the foot of the white man 
was known to have trodden in this 
county, and from which he looked out 
entranced by the natural beauty of his 
surroundings. The man was George 
Logan, time, March 1st, 1801. An 
account of him will be found further 
on in this work. 

The bluffs, at Brooksburg, on either 
side of Indian Kentuck, Plow Handle 
Point, Marble Hill and others, all are 
places overlooking beautiful scenes. 
Each is claimed as the most beautiful 
by the loc.il inhabitants, and 'tis true 
that they are all so beautiful in their 
different groupings and minutiae, 
that the visitor is apt to think that 
each succeeding one is the fairest 
and most lovely. 



It would require a book of itself to 
enumerde and to describe them sep- 
arately. 

Soil. — The soil of the county is 
various in character ; from the richest 
black alluvial of the river bottoms, to 
the ash gray siliceous clays of the 
Champlain period composing the 
soils of the " Flats." Agriculture 
being the principal source of the 
wealth of the county, there is an 
adaptability in its soil for the 
growth of any and all kinds of prod- 
ucts, from the cereals down to the 
blackberry — which is indigenous to 
the soil, and is no mean production 
at which " the nose may be cocked 
apeak" with impunity. 

The soil is finely adapted to the 
growing of all kinds of fruits ; the 
apple, pear, plum, peach and quince, 
all doing well here. In small fruits 
as berries, it cannot be surpassed any- 
where. The grape has been suc- 
cessfully cultivated all over the 
county, and along the streams of the 
county are still to be found some 
stocks of the original wild grapes, of 
immense size and productiveness. A 
notable one is on the farm of Mr. J. 
Rodolphus Conway, in Smyrna town- 
ship, which measures forty-six (46) 
inches in circumference. 

In different parts of the county 
there is found a subsoil of red clay, 
which seems to be erratic. It crops 
out here and there in small spots, and 
wherever it is found, there is a place 
where large yields of all kinds of 
grain, especially of wheat, may be 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



155 



surely counted upon. It is found 
in the Carmel neighborhood, in 
Hanover township ; at Wirt, in Mad- 
dison township, and along Big Creek, 
in Lancaster, Smyrna, Republican 
and Graham townships. 

Natural products. — Besides the 
agricultural products, as a source of 
wealth, Jefferson county has within 
her borders the following natural 
products in large quantities : Stone, 
for building and for lime; marble, 
good clay for brick, and tile clay ; 
gravel in abundance ; lime-stone of 
the Upper and Lower Silurian in 
unlimited supply ; also timber of all 
varieties of the latitude. 

Timber. — The county was covered, 
at the advent of the white man, with 
a heavy growth of timber of walnut, 
poplar, oak, maple beech, ash, hick- 
ory, buckeye, and gum trees. The 
timber was of the largest kind of each 
type ; Walnut trees from two to five 
feet in diameter, ami eighty to ninety 
feet high ; poplar as great as six and 
seven feet in diameter and over one 
hundred feet in height ; oak as large 
as the poplar and walnut in diameter ; 
maples as large as three and one-half 
feet in diameter. Almost all of these 
giants are gone, the best and largest 
of them having been cut down and 
burned in making the first clearings, 
and in making rails for fencing out 
their stock from the 'crops.' The 
walnut and poplar land being con- 
sidered the best for agricultural pur- 
poses, was first stripped, and the trees 
burned as the easiest and quickest 



way of getting rid of them. The ash 
were taken for rails, as they were the 
easiest worked, and split the straight- 
est. The oak was not considered as 
indicating so good a soil as the others, 
and was generally passed by, by the 
settlers and left unentered until later 
in date. The beech and gum were 
not considered of any account by the 
early settlers, except for firewood, 
and the land was looked upon as 
the poorest of all, and after all the 
rest had been taken, they were also 
entered, and have turned out in time 
and with progressive farming, about 
as good crops as the finer soils of the 
choice timber. 

There are still large tracts of fine 
timber left throughout the county, 
which are of great value. Were 
the original growth of timber still 
remaining here, it would bring three 
times as much in hard cash, as the 
entire valuation of land and improve- 
ments in the county. Many of our 
present citizens can remember the 
cutting down and burning of trees 
" to get them out of the way " in 
clearing the land, which would bring 
from fifty to seventy -five dollars a tree 
were they now standing. Especially 
was this the fact with regard to wal- 
nut trees, for they were of value at 
that time, principally for rails, and as 
they were much harder to work than 
ash or oak, they were usually disposed 
of as quickly and easily as possible 
(as mentioned above) by fire. 

The fences were made more to keep 
the stock out of the crops, than fur 



156 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



any other reason; for the principal 
subsistence of all kinds of animals 
owned by the farmers was the wild 
grasses of the timber and the young 
bushes. Hogs were allowed to run 
at large all of the year around, fatten- 
ing on the nuts. Milch cattle and 
work cattle were only penned in the 
worst kind of weather, and then more 
for the reason of having them handy 
for milking or work in the early 
morning. The rest of the cattle were 
turned on the range, with one of their 
number carrying a bell, for the double 
purpose of keeping them together, 
and of easily finding them by its 
sound. The horses also were turned 
out with a bell on the "old mare," 
Avhich kept them together and di- 
rected the owner to them by its sound, 
when they strayed off to new pas- 
ture, or for other cause. The owners 
of stock of all kinds, at that time, 
marked them by cutting their ears in 
various ways; but on account of the 
disfigurement of the horses, the prac- 
tice was dropped with them ; and 
finally has gone into disuse altogether, 
except as to hogs, which still in this 
part of the country are marked in 
the ear and ownership proven in that 
way. 

Tile Clay.—T>\\ John ftoe, of North 
Madison, tested the clay in the vicin- 
ity of North Madison, some years 
ago, and found it very well adapted 
to making tiles. He made tile there 
for some years before his death. The 
same clay abounds throughout the 
central part of the county. 



Salt. — Salt was made in this county 
at an early date, but on account of 
the low grade of the appliances for 
w r orking the well and the consequently 
small yield of salt, it was abandoned. 

Stone. — Jefferson county abounds 
in fine building stone. The quarries 
at Deputy have been worked more 
extensively than any other in the 
county. Stone from this quarry was 
used largely in the custom house 
building at Cincinnati, and also in 
the first large bridge across the Ohio 
at that place. The quality of this 
stone is equal to any found in the 
country. 

The same stone is found at differ- 
ent points in the county, but as there 
is no facility in transportation, there 
has been no extensive quarry beside 
this one opened up in the county. 

There is a beautiful species of gray 
and blue marble found in the southern 
part of this county, which was worked 
for a number of years, at Marble 
Hill. But on account of the sul- 
phuriat of iron, which was contained 
in it, decomposing and staining the 
finished work, the owners ceased 
working it. It took a very fine pol- 
ish, and was used for mantels, furni- 
ture, etc. It was full of fossil shells, 
which gave a beautiful effect when 
polished. It may be utilized even 
yet, and made a source of wealth. 

Water Courses. — The county has a 
very good natural water supply in 
eveiy part of it, in the way of springs 
and creeks. It might be proudly 
said to abound in water. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



157 



" A remarkable feature of the 
streams of this county," says the 
geologist, "is that they, as a general 
thing, cut deep gorges, some of which, 
especially on the eastern border, have 
attained the depth of two to three 
hundred feet." "These gorges are 
the result of flowing over friable mat- 
ter." 

Along the water-courses were the 
homes of Pre-historic Man. 

Among the water-courses in the 
eastern part of the county are : Indian 
Kentucky Creek, and its tributaries 
which drain the entire eastern portion 
of this county, the south-west corner 
of Switzerland, and a part of Ripley 
counties. 

The valleys of this creek are richly 
productive, and afford the best facili- 
ties for stock-raising; water being 
plenty all the year round, and the 
grazing of the best quality, and of 
sufficient quantity. 

The main valleys of this stream 
(there are two main forks or branches, 
the east and west and a great many 
minor tributaries), are lined by bluffs 
from 150 to 200 feet high. Near the 
mouth, where it empties into the Ohio 
river, they are as high as 300 feet. 

These valleys were formed in the 
same manner as that of the Ohio, 
whether by wear and erosion, or by 
icebergs cutting out the course of them. 
Geologists differ in their theories upon 
the subject. 

The west fork of Indian Kentucky 
rises in Ripley county, the south-east 
part of range X east, town 6 north, 



and runs southeastwardly through 
Monroe, Madison and Milton town- 
ships. The eastern branch, which is 
called the Main Creek and Brushy Fork 
by the natives, rises in the northern 
part of town 6, north of range XI 
east, in Ripley county, and runs south- 
wardly through Shelby township in 
Ripley county, and Shelby and Milton 
townships in Jefferson county, and 
uniting with the west fork at Man vi lie 
in Milton township, empties into the 
Ohio river near the eastern border of 
the county, traversing a distance of 
about thirty miles. The west fork is 
about fifteen miles long to the con- 
fluence. The average breadth of 
country drained by each branch is 
about twenty miles. 

The name "Indian Kentucky" is a 
combination of the two names, Indiana 
and Kentucky, and was given by the 
early settlers. The greater portion of 
these having come from Kentucky, 
honored their former State, as well as 
the State to which they had come, in 
giving this name to the stream. The 
name, as used by the natives, is 
" Indian Kentuck," and that, probably, 
was the original name. 

The next stream in point of size is Big 
Creek, the north fork of which rises near 
New Marion, in Ripley county, and in a 
very crooked course traverses about 
twenty-five miles of territory in this 
county, running through Monroe, Lan- 
caster, Smyrna and Graham townships, 
and empties into the Muscatatuck, a 
short distance from Paris, Jennings 
county. The middle fork of Big 



158 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Creek rises in Monroe township, west 
of Bryantsburgh, and flows westwardly 
into Lancaster township, where it 
empties into the north fork on the 
main creek. The south fork of Big- 
Creek rises in the south-western part 
of Madison township and runs through 
Hanover and Republican townships, 
aucl empties into the main creek on 
the line between Graham and Smyrna 
townships. 

Along all of these different branches 
of Big Creek are romantic rocky cliffs, 
especially so on the north fork, where 
they extend in places for a quarter of 
a mile in unbroken front, varying in 

sight from ten to sixty feet. In some 

aces the faces of these cliffs are quite 
i i Iden by the masses of vines and ferus 
growing upon them. 

The waters from these streams and 
their tributaries, flow intoWhite river, 
and through that river into theWabash. 
The waters of this county are very 
evenly divided between the Ohio and 
the Wabash rivers. 

There are numerous smaller streams 
•in the county. Crooked Creek and 
Clifty, of which mention has been 
made, Saluda, Eagle Creek and Bee 
Camp are tributaries of the Ohio river ; 
Bear Creek, Camp Creek, Harberts, 
Lewis and Marble are tributaries of 
Big Creek. 

Camp Creek has 'its name from the 
fact that the Indians, in passing through 
this county before the settlement by 
the whites, were in the habit of making 
it a regular camping place, and the 
whites also, in their pursuit of the 



Indians, found a very convenient and 
commodious place for a camp on its 
banks. It is a noted place among 
geologists as a locality for finding fine 
fossils. 

Crooked Creek runs from the north 
into, and to the west through Madi- 
son, and is about seven miles long. 
The head waters are about three and 
one-half miles north of Madison. The 
valley of the creek is less than one- 
half mile wide, and the hills bordering 
it are about 250 feet high. The creek 
flows out of this valley into the Ohio 
river valley, and making quite an 
abrupt turn to the west, then skirts 
the foot of the bluff for some three 
mdes, when it empties into the Ohio 
river. Formerly it was a stream of 
some size, and was used for mill 
power, but of late years, by reason of 
changes caused by cutting away the 
timber, straightening the course of the 
creek, and cultivation of the adjoining 
country, it is dry for the greater por- 
tion of its course, with stagnant pools 
at intervals, at other times a tor- 
rent. Sometimes it gets on a ram- 
page, as it did in 1846, when, being 
checked at the west side of Madison 
by the embankment of the railroad, it 
became a great lake, and many houses 
were floated away and many persons 
drowned. 

I copy selections from a sketch writ- 
ten by Lieut. A. J. Grayson — Phelix 
Adair — for the Madison Courier some 
years ago, which will give a better 
idea of it than any words of mine : 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



159 



"On Thursday, September 3d, 1846, 
a most sorrowful calamity befell the 
denizens of Crooked Creek Valley, 
causing great loss of life and properly. 

"It had been showery all day, but 
in the afternoon the rain poureddown 
in torrents, flooding our streets, as the 
gut! era were not of sufficient capacity 
to carry on the water, and many cel- 
lars and even residences, in the central 
part of the city, were flooded. 

" Crooked Creek rose to an enormous 
height, overflowing its banks from its 
headwaters down to the mouth, where 
it entities into the Ohio River, sweep- 
ing everything before it — houses, 
bridges, fences and other property. * * 

" Twelve persons were drowned, 
seven of their bodies being found after 
the waters assuaged, in a field at the 
foot of Wilber's hill — now the new 
addition to Springdale Cemetery. 

" Besides the many dwelling-houses, 
out-houses, fences, etc., swept off, a 
great deal of valuable property was 
destroyed. Sheet's oil-mill, which 
stood near the bank of the creek 
between Mulberry and West streets, 
had the gable-end thrown down and 
all his carding machinery destroyed. 
Mitchell & McNaughton's pork-house, 
near where Watts & Barber's paper 
mill is now located, was much dam- 
aged. Whitney & Hendricks' prop- 
erty, near the bridge at West street, 
was also damaged badly, and every 
bridge on the creek was carried away. 

w vr ■?£■ vr Vr vr 

" The whole surface of the great 
body of water was literally covered 



with different articles from the farms 
and residences above — hay and straw- 
stacks, rails, chickens, hogs, cattle, etc. 

" The mouth of the railroad culvert 
was not large enough to allow the 
immense amount of drift, etc., to pass 
through, causing it to dam up so that the 
backwater from it rose so rapidly that 
the creek valley, from Mulberry street 
down, was submerged so suddenly that 
residents -were unable to escape. * * 

" The water rose within forty feet 
of the railroad track, and it was thought 
it would find an outlet at the lowest 
point near 'Third street. But at last 
the pressure became too great, and the 
large embankment, said to be the high- 
est in the State, melted away like a 
snow-bank, while the huge stones in 
the culvert were swept away like sand, 
and the water poured into the gap thus 
made, like the Ohio pouring into the 
Mississippi." 

History of Early Settlers. 

The first known white man who 
set foot upon the soil of Jefferson 
county, was Captain George Logan, 
who, after the war of 1812, settled in 
what is now Hanover township. 
" George Logan was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, during the revolutionary war. 
His parents removed to Kentucky in 
1784, Geoige being but four years old 
at the time. He grew up from child- 
hood to manhood <>n a farm eight miles 
from Lexington, but before reaching 
his majority the evils of slavery so 
impressed him that he determined to 
forsake his home and make a new one 



160 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



where all men were free and their own 
masters. Shortly after this resolution 
was formed, young Logan, in partner- 
ship with a friend, bought up a l°t °f 
country produce with the intention of 
floating it down to New Orleans. They 
accordingly procured two barges, 
lashed them together, and with a crew 
of four men started down the Ken- 
tucky river. This was as early as 1801. 
A small village marked the present site 
of Carrollton, but between that point 
and Clarksville (Jeffersonville), or 
Louisville, was not to be seen the hut 
or encampment of a single white man. 
Mr. Logan says he frequently saw 
Indians along the shore hunting, and 
occasionally a camp with a fire where 
the squaws were cooking. The coun- 
try was utterly wild. There was 
nothing but heavy timber upon the flats 
and hills. No person had settled on 
the bottom land where Madison now 
stands, it was all covered with woods. 
Deer and buffaloes seemed plentiful, 
and at night wolves kept up a very 
dismal howling. In this trip an inci- 
dent occurred which has something of 
romance in it, and which affected the 
hero's after life very materially. 

Mr. Logan's boat passed Madison 
on the last day of February, 1801. 
The wind blew such a gale that navi- 
gation in low barges was both slow 
and perilous; so a landing was made 
on the northern bank, about a half 
mile below our present Hanover land- 
ing. The river continued rough with 
white caps for three days, compelling 
the voyagers to hug the shore to 



escape destruction. Young Logan 
got tired of sitting around on the 
boats, so he shouldered his gun and 
walked up the hill. There he soon 
fell in with a flock of turkeys and shot 
two of them. The river from the hill 
was so beautiful that he inwardly 
resolved to settle right there whenever 
he entered land. To mark the spot, 
after fixing the general features of the 
place in his memory, he carved his 
name in lull, with the date, March 1st, 
1801, upon two large beech trees 
which stood near the verge of the hill. 
There is no tradition that the Ohio, 
when a little rill, flowing to join the 
brimming river, paused, loitering in 
this enchanting land one sunny day 
to add yet another charm to the land- 
scape by its meanderings — there is no 
tradition to this effect, but if there 
were it would almost merit credence,f or 
nowhere throughout its entire course 
does the river present lovelier features, 
or its hills rise in more calm and 
gentle majesty. So Logan must have 
thought, for fourteen years later, in 
1815, he passed along the river bluffs 
in this vicinity searching for the old 
landscape and the two beeches which 
bore his name. Some chauges had 
taken place during that time, and the 
trees could not be found, though 
Logan was pretty sure he had discov- 
ered the proper spot. But here 
another difficulty presented itself; 
the land was already entered by one 
Christopher Harrison. But Logan 
was not to be balked at the last, so he 
hunted up Mr. Harrison, who was not 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY 



161 



a resident, and purchased the place of 
him." The above is from an inter- 
view of Mr. Logan, by Mr. M. C. Gar- 
ber — now editor of the Madison 
Daily Courier — published in the 
Courier Nov. 1st, 1873. 

After making the trip to New , 
Orleans, Mr. Logan returned home 
and fitted out a boat and went up the 
Missouri river to trade with Indians. 
He wandered about, living here and 
there, until the war of 1812-15 broke 
out, and being in Ohio at that time, he 
raised there a company for the defense 
of the settlements, and he was com" 
missioned as the Captain. His com- 
pany went with the army of Gen. W. 
H. Harrison to the relief of Fort 
Meigs, on the Maumee river. After 
the war, as stated above, he returned 
to his first love as a home, and pur- 
chased the land of the then owner, 
Mr. Christopher Harrison, who bad 
bought it from the Government. 

Mr. Logan looked for the trees 
bearing his name, time after time, but 
without success. In the third week 
of September of the year 1862, one 
morning after a heavy storm during 
the night, which blew down a number 
of trees at some little distance from 
his house, Mr. Logan sent his farm 
hands out to saw them up for fire- 
wood. While engaged at this work 
one of the men discovered the long 
sought for mark, on the beech tree, 
cut there on that March morning, so 
many years before. Mr. Logan was 
notified of the find, and came out to 
the place, and found that he had 



made his search too high on the brow 
of the hill, and had thus failed to find 
his mark. He had the block, which 
was of the diameter of twenty-two 
(22) inches, containing the mark, 
sawed out of the trunk of the tree, 
and carried to his house, where he 
always kept it as a relic of his first 
visit to this county, and as an object 
of interest which he showed to all of 
his visitors, to the time of his death, 
May 12th, 1875. It may be still at 
the old farm, and should be preserved 
as a memento of pioneer days, by the 
Historical Society of Jefferson county. 
Nomads. — There were many men 
in those days (some having families) 
who led nomadic lives. They passed 
through the country, lived and died, 
and scarcely left a trace of having 
occupied it. They depended upon 
hunting wild game for subsistence 
and for a living, and in following the 
chase, to some extent took upon them 
the habits of the animals which they 
hunted. They became cautious in 
their movements, and watchful of even 
the least change in things around 
them; the breaking of a twig, the 
rustle or fall of a leaf, were all 
noticed by them, and were indications 
perhaps of great moment to them, as 
they became proficient in their study 
of the book of nature. Tiny became 
good and quick reasoners, more from 
effect to the cause, than the contrary. 
They soon became well acquainted 
with the habits and lives of the ani- 
mals and birds which they were in 
the custom of hunting. They could 



162 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



tell the species, age, sex and condition 
of the animal still unseen, by its trail, 
as unerringly as the scholar the root 
of a word he may meet in his book. 

Their larders and wardrobes were 
supplied by the meat and skins of the 
animals which they killed. Their 
other wants being few, principally 
confined to lead and powder and whis- 
key, and sometimes flour or corn meal, 
were easily supplied at the trad- 
ing house or village store, in return 
for meat and pelts or grease. The 
pelts of animals were then more com- 
mon as a circulating medium than 
silver and gold, and constituted the 
principal source of revenue of the 
class of people of whom mention has 
been made. Every storekeeper was 
ready to take them in exchange for 
his goods, as he could use them with 
his creditors as readily as cash. These 
birds of passage melted away before 
the advance of the whites in the set- 
tlements, and there is now no note of 
name, time or occupancy except of 
two who roamed in the northwestern 
corner of the county. One Glascow, 
a hunter by profession, had no regu- 
lar habitation : his home was wherever 
he chanced to be. AVhen hungry he 
stopped and cooked his food ; when 
nio-ht came he camped at the most 
convenient and sheltered spot near 
him. His usual haunt was between 
Bio- Creek and Middle Fork. The 
other was a man named Joe Hensley, 
who lived with the Indians. He 
made a clearing on the creek, which 
still bears his name, within the pres- 



ent confines of Lancaster township. 
They both disappeared. Hensley 
going off with the Indians, and Glas- 
cow going to the new frontier. It 
was leportel some years after that 
he was killed on Haw Creek, in 
Decatur or Bartholomew counties. 

1804. — The next name, in point of 
time, is that of John Ryker; and that 
is only by an incidental mention of 
him in the sketch of Mr. William 
Bobbins (which see) where bespeaks 
of coming from Kentucky to visit 
Ryker in the year 1804. Mr. Bob- 
bins savs he was living near to or at 
the mouth of Ea^le Creek. But as 
Mr. Ryker entered the N: W. quarter 
of section thirty, town four north, 
range eleven east, April 24th, 1809, 
we suppose that he probably lived on 
that tract of land. 

1805. — In the latter part of the 
spring of 1805, Elder Jesse Vawter, 
the first Baptist preacher of this 
county, came to Indiana and made a 
charing. He was accompanied by 
John Beece and six or eight others 
from Scott and Franklin counties, 
Kentucky. They landed at a point 
just opposite to Milton, Kentucky. 
They made their headeprarters in the 
bottom at the upper end of the present 
city of Madison. Elder Jesse Vaw- 
ter (deceased March 20th, 1838) 
selected a location for his residence 
at the top of what is now called "the 
Mich'gan Hill," at the point where 
the Weyer mansion now stands. A 
portion of the present Weyer house 
was built by him later on in life. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



163 



After making their selections for 
homes and putting up cabins, they 
went back to Kentucky and brought 
their families here in 

1806. — He planted his corn late in 
June of this year. I submit the fol- 
lowing memorial of Elder Vawter, 
written by his son, John Vawter, and 
a sket h of James Vawter, which 
were printed, and have been pre- 
served by members of the family. 
As Elder Jess--* Vawter was a notable 
man in the Baptist Church — the pio- 
neer of that church Ave may say — in 
all of the region of the country for 
many miles around Jefferson county ; 
besides being one of the very earliest 
of the settlers of this county, I deem 
it as only just to his memory that 
this sketch of his life be inserted in 
these pages; together with the addenda 
by his son, James Vawter. Elder 
Vawter named his home Mount Glad, 
because he was delivered from his 
temporal troubles when he settled 
there. 



ELDER JESSE VAWTER. He 

was born in Virginia, Dec. 2, 1755. 
His fathers name was David, his 
mother's that of Mary. His father died 
while he was yet a youth and left him 
to obtain a livelihood by the energies 
of his own mind and individual indus- 
try. At an early day he was called 
into the service of his country. While 
in the tented field he was attacked 
with military fever, of which his life 
was despaired of by his many friends ; 
but God was pleased to prolong his 



days and he lived to see the armies of 
his country crowned with success. In 
the year 1782, he emigrated to North 
Carolina (now Sullivan county, Ten- 
nessee). While here he took an 
active part as a soldier and officer in 
the offensive and defensive war meas- 
ure against the Cherokee Indians, who 
committed many cruelties on the front- 
iers of those times. In the year 1787 
he visited the country then known by 
the name of the Levisa country, a 
name by the writer of this memoir well 
recollected, afterwards and now known 
as Kentucky. After his return home 
he prepared for removing to the new 
world, and in the year 1789, with his 
wife and six small children, removed 
into the State of Kentucky, settled in 
Woodford county, where he resided 
until 1795 ; at which time he purchased 
a small tract of land on the north side 
of the North Elkhorn, and removing 
to it, resided thereon until the vear 
1 806. Having lost his lands by a supe- 
rior claim in law, he determined to aban- 
don the State. In the fall of 1806 he 
removed his family to a residence 
prepared by him near Madison, known 
as Mount Glad, now occupied and 
owned by Messrs. Flint, Wilbur and 
T. Ilite. On this last named place 
he continued to reside until himself 
and companion were too old and 
advanced in age to keep house any 
longer, and finally broke up house- 
keeping and sold the farm and man- 
sion, a spot dear in the recollection 
of his children and numerous acquaint- 
ances. A short time afterwards, the 



164 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



partner of his youth, of his joys and 
of his many labors and conflicts, sunk 
under disease and old age, and after 
months of excruciating pain, died 
within a few hundred yards of the 
spot where the subject of the present 
memoir breathed his last. He died 
March 20th, 1838, in the S3d year of 
his age. 

Memoir written by John Vawter. 

Sketch of James Vawter, written by 
himself. Addenda to a memoir of 
Elder Jesse Vawter, written by John 
Vawter. 

The underwriter, JAMES VAW- 
TER, wa< born in East Tennessee, 
April 2d, 1783; came with his father 
t»> Kentucky in 1790; lived in Ken- 
tucky eleven years; came to Indiana 
in 1805. "I built my first cabin in the 
winter of 1806-7, on the hill where 
the big engine house stands, and kept 
bachelor hall until Oct. 1816 ; and then 
got married to Judge John Watts 1 
daughter, of Boone county, Ky ; have 
raised a large family of sons and 
daughters (11 of them). In 1814-15- 
16 I was sheriff and collector of county 
and territorial taxes. I have the 
duplicate, which no man would take 
and collect for it. It was Jefferson, 
Jennings, Switzerland, Ripley and 
Scott, all in one c< »unty." — He died Oct. 
25th, 1873, 90 years, 6 months and 21 
days old. 



Mr. James Underw 1 came to 

Jefferson county in company with 
Elder Jesse Vawter in the spring of 



1806, and settled about four miles 
north of the present city of Madison, 
on the headwaters of Crooked Creek. 
The first graveyard in the county was 
upon his farm, and is still at times now 
used for the interment of the descend- 
ants of the old settlers. He was buried 
there. It still bears the name of the 
"Underwood Graveyard." 

There is the ' name of one Colby 
Underwood, among the old settlers; 
when he came, and whether he was a 
brother of James or not, we are not 
able to tell. 

1806.— Mr. Ralph— called Rafe— 
Griffin, came to Indiana Territory in 
1806, and took a pre-emption claim in 
the north-west quarter of section 31, 
town 4, north of range 11 east. He 
afterward sold his ri°\ht to Mr. John 
Thomas, who made the last payments 
upon the land and received the patent. 

The house — still standing, January 
3, 1889 — was built the same year, and 
was made with the view of using it as 
a fort, as the Indians were quite 
troublesome. There were loop-holes 
arranged for firing the guns through. 
On either side of the door, about 
eighteen inches from the floor, a heavy 
hickory withe was put through the 
logs and securely Avedged from the 
outside, forming on the inside of the 
wall a bow, into which a heavy wooden 
bar was placed, with which the door 
could be made fast, and which secured 
it from any attack from the outside. 
The logs of the house are still cpiite 
solid. It is the oldest house in the 
county. Mr. James Griffin, still living 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



165 



in this county, was born in this house 
in the year 1808. 

A.n Indian Scare. — At the time of 
the close of the war of 1812-15, and 
the establishment of peace between 
the United States and England, com- 
munication between the different parts 
of this country was very uncertain, 
and at times exceedingly slow. For 
instance, the battle of New Orleans 
was fought on the 8th of January, 
1N15, and peace had been effected on 
the 24th day of December, 1814, and 
the treaty signed, though it was not 
ratified by Congress until February 
18, 1815. So it happened that the 
news was late in arriving at Madison, 
but the few citizens who were here 
were happy on account of it, aud 
celebrated in the usual manner of 
the American citizen, by firing off 
guns and yelling. The residents of 
Ryker's Ridge, hearing the noise, sup- 
posed that it was an Indian attack 
upon the town, and after placing their 
families in the block house at Col. 
John Rykers' farm, and at the house 
of old Mi". John Thomas — the house 
just previously spoken of as Griffin's 
— the men went to town to help their 
neighbors repel the Indians. When 
they arrived in town and learned the 
news, they staid and helped to cele- 
1 »rate, and as whisky was pretty plenty 
and entirely free, they became very 
drunk and delayed their return home 
till after night. As they came along 
the ridge whooping and yelling, the 
women, supposing they were Indians 
after scalps, closed and barricaded the 



door at Thomas 1 house, and prepared 
for a fight. When the men came to 
the house and sought admission, the 
women, not recognizing them, refused 
t<> let them in, but as no immediate 
attack was made upon the house, did 
not open fire on them, but continued 
to parley with them until they were 
finally recognized and admitted, amid 
great rejoicing. So rounded up the 
last Indian scare in the settlements of 
Jefferson county, in the summer of 
1815. 

.George Richey came from Garrard 
county, Kentucky, and settled on 
Cliffy three miles from Madison, in 
1806. 

Bazaleel Maxwell came from Ken- 
tucky, and settled in the vicinity of 
Hani >ver in this y ear. He was followed 
by relatives of the name of McCul- 
lough and Tilfords, who brought with 
them a preacher by the name of 
McClung. — See Rev. Love H. Jame- 
son's letter at another place. 

1807. — In the spring of this year Mr. 
Archibald Dinwiddie removed to this 
county near to where Hanover now 
stands, from Henry county, Ky. The 
Indians were so troublesome that he 
returned to Kentucky. In 1800 he 
again came to the place which he had 
selected in this county and settled 
down and remained there till he 
died. The settlers built a fort or 
blockhouse upon his farm after his 
return. 

In the "Tract B >ok " of lands hi 
Jefferson county is found an entry of 
"the S. E. Quarter of Section 20, 



166 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Township 4, North Bange 10 East, 
July 15th, 1808,'' " located by James 
Edwards." The patent was issued to 
him but has never been recorded. 
When he first came here, there is no 
means at present to finding out, but it 
must have been previous to the date 
of the patent, either in that spring or 
during the year of 1807. 

The settlers, within the bounds of 
Jefferson county, previous to the year 
1808, all made their homes on the tops 
of the hills ; at least all of whom we 
have any account did so. 

1808. — Mr. William Hall squatted 
upon the ground, whereon the city 
water-works enginediouse now stands, 
in the spring of this year. He cleared 
a few acres of land and built a cabin 
in the spring of this year. He sold 
out his claim in the next year to Mr. 
Jonathan Lyon. This was the first 
settlement on the bottom ; all previous 
to this had located on the hill-tops. 

John H. Wagner, blacksmith, came 
in May, 1808. See sketch. 

Mi-. Mason Watts also came to the 
county in this year. He was the first 
white man Avho settled in Marengo 
township. He lived there for many 
years, but aftenvards went to Ripley 
county. His wife made for herself 
the first loom made in the county, out 
of a white walnut tree, doing the 
entire work with her own hands, so 
says the authority for this sketch. 
Mr. Watts was a man noted for his 
great strength, and prowess as a 
hunter. He followed hunting as his 
profession. 



In this year, "Gentleman Christo- 
pher Harrison" — as he is called in 
the court records of the county — is 
supposed to have come to this county. 
There was an inscription, "Christo- 
pher Harrison, July 8th, 1808," upon 
a beech tree which stood in front of 
his cabin, near to where Hanover now 
stands, which was supposed to have 
reference to the date of his arrival 
at that place. (See sketch of Harri- 
son.) 

1809. — There seems to have been 
a great drawing to Jefferson county 
in this year, and the settlers spread 
out more over the country now within 
the present bounds of the county. 
We find them in the limits of what 
are now Hanover, Shelby, Monroe, 
Madison, Lancaster, Republican, and 
Graham townships. Previously there 
had been only a very few outside of 
what is now Madison township. We 
find the names of John Paul, Lewis 
Davis and Jonathan Lyons, the pro- 
prietors of the town of Madison, and 
Joseph Lane, at the north end of 
Dugan's Hollow, on the top of the 
hill. He afterwards entered land in 
the present confines of Monroe town- 
ship, seven miles north of this place 
and one mile east. He removed to it 
and lived there till he died. He gave 
the land for the Hebron church and 
graveyard, and was the first person 
buried there. His grave is unmarked 
and is now unknown. 

Thomas Hughes and David Hughes, 
his son, settled in Republican town- 
ship, near to where Kent now stands, 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



167 



but becoming alarmed by the Indian 
raids, removed to Madison and after- 
wards to a farm of Col. John Paul, at 
Clifty, where they remained until the 
year 1814, when David Hughes 
removed into what is now Lancaster 
township. He was from North Car- 
olina. 

Mr. William Robbins — see It's 
sketch — came to Indiana Territory 
this year and settled in what is now 
Shelby township. 

Mr. Alex. Chambers and son, Wil- 
liam, settled in Republican township 
and built a block house. See sketch 
of William Chambers. 

Williamson Dunn settled at Han- 
over during the year. See sketch. 

1810. — Thomas Jameson settled on 
lands owned by Alexander McNutt, 
immediately opposite to Clifty Falls, 
on the south side of the creek. At 
this place the Rev. Love H. Jameson 
was born May 17th, 1811. He is still 
living at Indianapolis, his sight almost 
gone, a worth}" and honored Christian 
and a humble follower of his Master; 
patiently awaiting the Master's call 
and doing His will. He has faithful- 
ly preached "The Word 1 ' for many 
years, to the salvation of many souls. 
He is the beloved father of many in 
Christ. He is gentle, peaceful, ami 
Christlike in his life and character. 

John Booth and Samuel Burnett — 
both tavern-keepers — are supposed to 
have come to this county in this year. 
Robert M. Trotter, a hatter, Joshua 
Wilkinson, a carpenter, John Sering 
and Strickland, in the town of 



Madison, which was laid out in this 
year. William Ramsay built his mill 
in what is now Republican township. 
From these mills came the P. O. name, 
Ramsey's Mills; this was afterwards 
changed to the present name of Kent. 

1811. — The increase of population 
this year seems to have been princi- 
pally at Madison, where the first sale 
of lots was made in this year, in Feb- 
ruary. 

Dawson Blackmore, a hatter by 
trade, came to Madison in 1811, June 
14th, and built a log house on Wal- 
nut street, between Second and High, 
which was intended for, and was used 
as a fort, having loopholes pierced 
through the logs, through which to 
shoot if attack was made. Four and 
five families would frequently be 
there in the night time for safety. In 
a narrative by Blackmore, in 1850, he 
says: "The persons who were here then 
(i. e., when he came) were John Paul, 
Robert Trotter, a hatter, and family, 
John Sering, Jonathan Lyon and fam- 
ily, John Booth and family, first 
tavern keeper, Samuel Burnett, best 
tavern, Joshua Wilkinson, carpenter, 
Vawter family, and Joseph Strick- 
land. 1 ' At what dates Trotter, Booth, 
Burnett, Wilkinson and Strickland 
came to the territory is unknown, but 
it must have been early in 1811, or 
perhaps in 1810, as Blackmore found 
them here when he came. 

In another place the statement is 
made that Gen. Alex. Meek was 
admitted to practice as an attorney, 
at a court held at Wagner's log cabin, 



168 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



so that Meek can be called an inhabi- 
tant at that time. 

In the early history of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in this county, is 
found a statement of the forming of a 
class in the month of July of this year, 
consisting of James McClean and wife, 
Thomas Hughes and wife — formerly 
mentioned as comma; in 1809 — a Mrs. 
Cole, and George Burton. The arrival 
of these in the bounds of what is now 
Jefferson County is not now to be 
ascertained. 

In the same sketch, Judge Sparks is 
mentioned as having preached the first 
sermon in a house in the town of 
Madison. 

In this year Blackmore enumerates 
the cabiDS in Madison (See Madison.) 

Thomas Rosebery, Sr., settled in the 
present confines of Graham township 
in this year. " He purchased land 
from Robert Russell, an old pioneer 
who preceded him." 

1812. — During this year there was 
quite an addition to the population of 
the county. In October of this year, 
Williamson Dunn, of Hanover, organ- 
ized a company of rangers, under the 
provisions of an Act f Congress 
approved January 8, 1812, "authoriz- 
ing the President of the United States 
to raise certain companies of rangers, 
etc., " consisting of a captain, three 
lieutenants, one ensign, four sergeants, 
four corporals and sixty privates. As 
twenty-five of these came from Ken- 
tucky with Ristine, who was the first 
lieutenant, the remainder belonged to 
Jefferson county, making forty-six 



men of war from this county in actual 
service. 

William Hendricks came to Madison 
during this year ; Rufus Gale and son, 
Elmore Gale, came to Madison August 
12, of this year, aud settled on a farm 
in the western part of Madison. 

Samuel Demaree also came this year, 
and settled on Indian Kentucky. 

Henry Ristine came from Kentucky 
with twenty-five men to join Capt. 
Dunn's company of rangers. After 
his term of service expired, be settled 
here in Madison, and established a 
tannery on the ground now occupied 
by Dietz's tan yard, on Aulenbach 
Avenue. He also kept a tavern on 
the south-east corner of Mulberry and 
Main streets. He went from here to 
Crawfordsville, where he died. 

Among early names on the 
court records in the year 1812 are: 
Samuel Smock, William Cotton, and 
Williamson Dunn, Judges of the Com- 
mon Pleas Court. Isaiah Blankin- 
ship's name appears on a jury of 
enquiry on mill seat of George Shan- 
non, Sr., March 20, 1812. Blankin- 
ship was near Ramsey's Mills in 
Republican township. Thursday, June 
18 mention of Wm. Ramsey's Mill 
is made in a petition for a road. 
Same day Samuel Burnett, license for 
a tavern, one year. Friday, 19 an 
order appointing Elisha Golay 
Inspector of Jefferson township. 
Jesse Gray, Inspector of Madison 
township. He lived out near Wirt. 
Thomas Taylor Inspector of Washing- 
ton township. October 23, 1812, 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



169 



the names of Robert and James Trot- 
ter, John M. Johnston, Janies Hicks, 
Abraham Fisk, Thomas McFarlancl, 
John Eads, David and Ebenezer 
Hillis. 

The following names are found 
composing the first Grand Jury of 
record. June term, 1812. Common 
Pleas Court. 

Christopher Harrison, 

Foreman. 

Jonathan Lyons. 

Garshom Lee, 

Paul Froman, 

Henry Sellars, 

David Cummins, 

James Watson, 

John M. Johnston, 

John Rhoads, 

David McKay, 

Thomas Hughes, 

James Edwards, 

Joshua Cane, 

Matthew Wise, 

Joshtta Wilkinson. 
The Grand Jury October, 1812, 
was : 

LlNSFIELD BRANHAM, 

Foreman. 
Wm. Vawter, 
Joseph Lane, 
James Underwood, 
John Hall, 
John Branham, 
John Rykkk, 
Alexander Chambers, 
James Ward, 
Thomas Stribling, 
James Mi Lane, 
Jacob Riioads. 
John Randalls, 
Joshua Wilkinson. 
Richard Hopkins, 
Gideon Underwood, 
Archibald Dinwiddie. 



The Linsfield Branham spoken of 
above was the father of Hon. David 
C. Branham, a well known citizen of 
our county, a sketch of whom is in 
another place. John Branham. men- 
tioned above, was a cousin of Lins- 
field, and left this county at an early 
day and went to Vernon, Indiana, 
where he raised a large family 

Richard Hopkins came from Vir- 
ginia and brought with him a number 
of slaves, whom he freed. He came 
to this State because he was convinced 
of the wrong of slavery, and desired 
to free his slaves, which he could not 
do in Virginia. He settled upon the 
farm now owned by John W. Scott, 
on Ryker's Ridge. After remaining 
here for a few years, he went to New 
London, which loomed up at that 
time as the coming city of the State 
and the West. He remained there 
until his death. 

1813. — Wm. L. Reynolds came to 
Madison during this year. He is said 
to have driven the first dray ever seen 
in the town. He afterwards located 
near Dupont. See sketch of J. L. 
Reynolds. 

In this year the first settler in what 
is now Lancaster township, made his 
appearance, in the person of James 
Hays, ( from Columbiana county, Ohio) 
at the place where Landon's mills now 
stand. 

1814 — Arnold Custer, with three 
sons, James, Jesse and William, came 
to Jefferson county during this year. 
He cleared four acres of ground and 
erected a log cabin on the present site 



170 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



of Mud Lick. It was the farthest 
settlement north on the present Mich- 
igan road. In the following year 
they returned to Kentucky and 
brought the family. He was the old- 
est grandson of William Custer, the 
pioneer of that family in America. 
He had twenty-four sous, from whom 
came all of the host of Custers in this 
country. He was a citizen of Virginia. 
Arnold Custer was a relative of 
Daniel Boone by marriage, their wives 
being both named Schull. 

When Arnold Custer and his sons 
first came to this State they camped 
alongside of a big oak tree which had 
been blown down, and that they made 
their home till they built their cabin 
and it was ready for use. He came 
from near the salt works in Kentuckv, 
and when he brought his family over 
to h's Indiana 'home, he brought a 
cargo of salt on horseback, for his 
own use, and for sale to the citizens. 
In 1815 he and his sons went to where 
Vernon now is and cleared a patch of 
ground for Col. John Vawter. They 
built a cabin there, which stood near 
to where the Jennings county court 
house now stands. Arnold Custer 
and his sons may be termed pioneers 
of two counties of Indiana. 

Indiana. — They were always on the 
lookout for Indian*, and prepared for 
an attack. On one occasion, dining 
their first sojourn in 1 ndiana, they all 
went to bed at night full of Indian 
fancies. Clothing was scarce, and 
they had to do their own mending. 
The shirt of one of the boys needed 



some repairs. He concluded to do it 
that night, so he arose from the bed 
and taking; a bundle of bark lighted 
it at the fire and sat down to mend 
his shirt. He made no noise, and was 
attent upon the business in hand, — 
every motion he made was reproduced 
in grotesque shadow upon the walls 
and inner surface of the roof of the 
cabin. One of his brothers awaking, 
saw the shadows, and having Indian 
on the brain, immediately aroused 
the rest. They all seized their guns 
ready for the slaughter of the Indians 
who had so daringly entered their 
castle. In the dim and uncertain 
light, they were near to shooting the 
shirt mender before the mistake was 
discovered. 

Pioneer Incident. — The grand- 
mother of Arnold Custer had been to 
the house of a neighbor to warp a 
piece of cloth. When on her return 
she was captured by a baud of Indi- 
ans. They went so close to her own 
house that she heard the cry of her 
child. She was taken to Quebec and 
there sold, but managing to escape, 
she made her way back to her former 
home in Kentucky. When she 
arrived home she found that her hus- 
band in some way had heard of the 
prisoners being carried to Quebec, 
and had started to go for her. She 
immediately started back upon the 
weary road to the Canadas, seeking 
her husband. When she had traveled 
some few days she saw some men 
who were burying a body in a field 
near the road. She went over to them 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



171 



and found that it was her husband, 
who had been attacked with fever 
but a few days after lie left home, and 
had died the day before, after a linger- 
ing illness of several weeks. 

Mr. James Jackson settled near 
Kent in November of this year. 
Gideon Gordon and Bill Thicksteen 
were also settlers in that neighbor- 
hood in this year. 

The Benefiels, two brothers, from 
Kentucky ; McLeland, also from Ken- 
tucky, settled in what is now Shelby 
township, in the fall of this year. 
Mr. Win. C. McLeland came here that 
year. All of these settled near to 
and around Buchanan's Station or 
blockhouse. 

Buchanan's Station was built in 
1818 by William Buchanan, John and 
David, his brothers, and George Bene- 
fiel, upon the land of the three Buch- 
anan's. The fort was a square build- 
ing of sixty feet front, built solid, and 
pierced with loop-holes for tiring from. 
The upper story — rather the roof — 
projected over the wall of the main 
building, so as to overlook the sides. 
There were four block houses in aline, 
expending about 300 or -103 feet, in 
which the families of the country con- 
gregated and lived when danger of an 
Indian raid was feared. It was at this 
time the extreme frontier of the country 
in that direction, and was garrisoned 
the greater part of the time, for three 
or four years, by the rangers under 
Capt. Dunn and Capt. Hillis. 

It was situated about three miles 
north-east of Canaan on the line divid- 



ing Jefferson and Ripley counties. 

DR. ISRAEL T. CANBY was a 
large owner of towii property in Madi- 
son He came here about 1816, and 
lived here for many years, removing 
from here to Crawfordsville, some 
time about 1830. He was the father 
of Gen. R. Canity of the United States 
Army, who was killed by the Modocs 
in the lava fields. Gen. Can by was a 
boy when the doctor, his father, came 
here, and entered West Point from 
here. 

Early County Roads. — The early 
roads of the county were merely traces 
through the woods, but they sufficed 
for the use of the inhabitants, for there 
was but little matter to be transported 
and transportation was principally on 
horseback. Wagons -were rarely used, 
and these of the heaviest and most 
cumbrous kind. The early settlers of 
this ci >unty, for the greater part at least, 
had but little possessions in the way 
of household goods, and these were 
carried on horseback from their former 
homes. After wagons and Dearborns 
came into tolerablv general use, roads 
were cut through the forests. The 
first one leading out of Madison to the 
north, was up the point of the hill at 
the head of Mulberry street. Traces 
of this may be still seen along 
t'.e point. This led to the Vawter 
neighborhood on the top of the Michi- 
gan Hill, and thence to where North 
Madison now is, and out to the neigh- 
borhood of Wirt. The road up to 
Ryker's Ridge was up the river to 
Eagle Hollow, and up Eagle to the 



172 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 






first long hollow putting into it from 
the left, and up this on to the ridge. 
At this point, the Lawreneeburg road 
bore off to the east, going up the next 
long hollow corning down from the 
right. Later, the State road was made 
up the hill on the west side of Irish 
Hollow; coming to the top of the hill 
just opposite to the present toll-gate 
on the North Madison pike, and thence 
west of north, through Wirt and 
Dupont. Just at the top of the hill, 
and between this road and the railroad, 
on the west side of the railroad cut, 
stood the first church built in the 
county, a Baptist meeting-house, built 
by the Vawters principally, and called 
Mt. Pleasant. 

After this, was opened up the Gra- 
ham road, going up Crooked Creek 
valley to the head of it, and rising the 
hill there at the place of Mr. James 
Wilson, and from there on the range 
line due north for about seven miles. 
This was the route of communication 
for all of the north part of the county. 
The road extended over to Graham 
Creek in Ripley county. The Michi- 
gan road was laid out in the year 1831 
and work was commenced upon it in 
that year. It led from Madison 
through Indianapolis to Michigan City 
on Lake Michigan. 

The road to Hanover and the west 
of the county went along the river and 
up the hill into Hanover; from there 
it branched off to Lexington to the 
west, Ramsey's mills to the northwest, 
and thence through to Graham town- 
ship, and to the south into Saluda. 



The roads in early times were like 
angel's visits ; " few and far between." 

The first attempt at supplementing 
nature, in order to have a firm road 
that would uphold the travel during 
the soft times of the winter season and 
the wet spells of the spring and sum- 
mer, was the corduroy. This was by 
splitting rails out of trees, or taking 
saplings or logs, and putting them 
across the road on a dirt foundation, 
which would support the wagons, and 
prevent " stalling in the mud." 

Those who have traveled upon this 
species of road need no reminder of 
the trials and suffering connected with 
them ; and to those who have been 
accustomed to the advantages of good 
pikes, it would be an utter impossi- 
bility to give such a description of 
them as to make them fully under- 
stood. As has been said : " Seeing is 
believing, but feeling is the naked 
truth." Demonstration, by a ride for 
a few miles upon such a road, is the 
only way by which appreciation of 
them could be had. When first placed 
in position, these rails are covered by 
a small thinness of dirt, but the rains 
and the shaking of travel soon recovers 
from this, and the naked rails are left, 
each one giving its own peculiar jar 
and jolt. 

The necessity of good roads was an 
axiom ever before the community, and 
about 1850 to 1854 plank roads were 
made from Madison to Greeusburg, 
Brownstown, Hanover, Lexington and 
Vevay. After these roads were tried 
for a few years, and found to be 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



173 



impracticable on account of the 
expense attending the repairs needed 
upon them, they were finally aban- 
doned, and the present system of 
gravel, or macadamized roads, took 
their place. The county is now well 
furnished with these, ranning from 
Madison as the center, to all parts of 
the county, thus making communica- 
tion, throughout the entire space of it, 
practicable at all times of the year. 

There was an old soldier of the 
" war of twelve " who formerly lived 
in Milton township. He was an 
annual candidate for the Legislature, 
and always had his tickets printed 
with the picture of a soldier in the 
position of "Attention," upon them. 
His hobby was "the My-shag-in 
road." His plan was to make a road- 
bed of charcoal, by making a pit the 
entire length of the road, and placing 
the wood in it, burn it, thus leaving 
the charcoal as the road. Had he 
succeeded in his plan, there would 
have been a road resulting from it, far 
ahead of any we now have, in all of 
its parts. 

This was an entirely new departure, 
and was looked upon in that day as a 
chimera of the brain of a man who was 
what would now be called a crank. 
Whether it was an original idea of his 
or not, it has been tested since then, 
and is found to be of great worth and 
permanence as a road material. This 
man's name was Samuel Welsh. 

Abolitionism. — This county was 
settled largely by a class of people 
coming from slave States, who were 



convinced that human slavery was a 
sin, and for that reason fled from it in 
order to raise their families in a ter- 
ritory where its blight would not 
affect their children. As the Act of 
Congress passed July 13, 1787, estab- 
lishing the territory north-west of the 
Ohio river, provided : " Article 6 
There shall be neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude in the said ter- 
ritory, otherwise than in the punish- 
ment of crime." These men made 
Indiana their home. 

This feeling of the wrong of slavery 
was only strengthened by their resi- 
dence here, and finally develoj:>ed into 
what was known as the "Underground 
Railroad." This incorporal corpora- 
tion had two distinct routes through 
Jefferson county. The eastern route 
having its entrepot in the region of 
Eagle Hollow, and route of travel by 
wav of " Ryker's Ridge," along Indian 
Kentucky Creek through Shelby 
township, thence towards Canada. 
The western route had its entrepot in 
Saluda township; route of travel 
through Hanover, Smyrna, Lancaster 
and Monroe townships into Ripley 
county. There were many stations 
alone each of these routes. At each 
station there was generally a change 
of conductors. A very lively business 
was carried on along this road. Many 
of the active employees are still living. 

Many of them were known to the 
detectives of those days, but so well 
and secretly did they cany on their 
work, and so true were they to each 
other, and to what they held to be the 



174 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



great principle of right for which they 
strove, that but few convictions were 
ever made under the law, which they 
were breaking, or at least disregarding. 
They will have their reward. It was 
very seldom that a convoy was seen 
during daylight. The mode of operat- 
ing has cever been fully divulged, but 
it ought to be ; and a full history of 
this work and the men engaged in it 
woidd make a most facinating book. 

Count;/ Court. — The first County 
Court was convened June 15th, 1812. 
It was entitled, "The Court of Common 
Pleas, for Jefferson county, Indiana 
Territory." The first judges were : 
Samuel Smock, William Cotton and 
Williamson Dunn. The court com- 
bined civil, probate and county busi- 
ness, and continued to transact all of 
the legal business of the county until 
Nov. 7th, 1814. At this time the 
" Circuit Court " was established and 
the criminal and civil business was 
transferred to that court, leaving only 
the probate and county business in the 
Common Pleas Court. The Court of 
Common Pleas was abolished at the 
time that Indiana became a State. 
The name of Jesse L. Holnian is found 
upon the records as Prosecutor of the 
Court of Common Pleas Court. His 
name appears as the first Presiding 
Judge of the Circuit Court. Williamson 
Dunn and Samuel Smock as Associate 
Judges. 

John Vawter was the first Sheriff of 
the county; John Paid the first Clerk 
and Recorder. John Sering was first 
Treasurer. 



The County Jail. — The first jail was 
built in the year 1811. Like the first 
court house, it was built of logs. One 
of the early chroniclers says : " It was 
one house built inside of another.' 1 It 
was supposed to be a place of secure 
keep for the rogues and malefactors of 
that day. It was located on the alley 
back of the present one. As mentioned 
elsewhere, the first item of record in 
tlit- way of business in the Commis- 
sioners' Court was: "Thomas Strib- 
ling, Sheriff of the county aforesaid, 
filed his petition against the jail of this 
county, which was ordered filed," Feb. 
11th, 1817. On the 29th of Septem- 
ber, 1817, the contract was awarded 
to David Hillis, "to build a jail of 
logs, hewed ten by twelve inches. 
Dimensions twenty -two by twenty-four 
feet from out to out, of two stories in 
height, with a shingle roof ; a stairway 
to lead from the lower to the upper 
floor, inside of the rooms." Amount 
to be paid $800. This house was built 
east of the first one, nearer to Walnut 
street. The young men and boys of 
that period used the east side of this 
building as a fives-court, for playing 
that game of ball. 

The Committee reports that publica- 
tion was made for bids in the Repub- 
lican, a newspaper of Madison, and 
that the bid of James H. Wallace was 
the lowest and best bid. 

Thereupon the court awarded to 
him the contract to build a court house 
of brick, according to the plan fur- 
nished, at the cost of $2,700, to be 
finished by January 1, 1830. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



175 



January 7th, 1833, "Win. ('<. Wharton, 
Sheriff, filed a protesl against the jail 
of the county, stating that it was 
"insufficient to keep prisoners," and 
" that there was no place tit for prison- 
ers for debt." The result of this pro- 
test was the building of jail No. 4, by 
Peck & Temperly. C. P. J. Arion was 
appointed superintendent of the con- 
structions. 

The presenl jail was built by 
McKinn A: Falconer, at a cost of 
$8,900, and wasrec ived bythe County 
Commissioners, on October 27th, 1849. 

The first, second, fourth and fifth of 
fhese jails were built on the same lo1 
of ground, varying but little as to the 
precise spot occupied by the different 
buildings. 

The third, which was called the 
•' brick jail."' was located upon the back 
end of the lot now o cupied by the 
Upper Seminary. The first prisoner 
put into this bastile, was an old negro 
by the name of Bob Hopkins. He 
was a celebrity of the town for many 
years. He was brought here by his 
master, Richard Hopkins, and freed. 
He worked at anything lie could put 
his hand to when here, hut was usually 
employed on t he early keel and flat- 
boats as a cook and hand. lie was ;i 
great drunkard, but scarcely ever out 
of humor. He was put into this jail 
and in a few hours had made a large 
enough hole through the wall to crawl 
out of, ami thus liberated himself, 
making the first jail escape in the 
eount\. 

Court House.— A log court house 



was built in 1811. It stood on the 
south half of the court house square. 
Mi'. Simeon Hunt says: ''That it was 
a two-story building of buckeye logs, 
with stairs on the outside (south side) 
going xip to the jurj rooms." He also 
says, " that when the brick court house 
was built (1823), the old log house 
was removed to the "Shannon lot," on 
the south side of Main west of Jeffer- 
son, where Hagedon's saddlery shop 
now is ( L889). There it was used for 
man) years as store-rooms and dwel- 
ling houses." 

In 1823 the first brick court house 
was built on the site of the present 
one. During thy building of thi>. a< 
they were raising the large girders for 
the roof, Mr. Kirk, a shoemaker (the 
father of our former well-known citi- 
zen, (apt. John Kirk), was killed. 
.Mr. Kirk was assisting in pulling up 
the rope for hoisting, when it'broke, 
and the timber fell upon him, crushing 
him. 

The old brick court h use was an 
octagon in form, with the Judge's seat 
on the east side of the room, raised 
considerably above the floor. A large 
window was immediately behind the 
chair of the Presiding Judge; on either 
side of him was a chair for the Asso- 
ciate Judges. AKoitt one-half of the 
room was tailed off for the us:' of the 
bar, their clients, the witnesses, and 

the officers of thecourt. <>n the south 

side of the room a stairway led to the 
upper floor, where were the jury 
rooms. The foot of this stairway was 
on a line with the railing and entered 



176 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



on the inside of the "bar," and the 
banister of the stairway acted as a 
continuous barrier with the railing, 
shutting the mere spectator out of the 
immediate presence of, and contact 
with, the court. The entire lower 
floor was occupied as a court room. 

The old court house was destroyed 
by tire Sept. 12th, 1853, and the pres- 
ent house was erected upon the same 
ground. This house was partially 
destroyed by fire in 1859. This house 
is built of stone up to the second 
floor. The ground floor is occupied 
by the county offices, and the Com- 
missioners' court room. To all of the 
offices except that of the Sheriff there 
are large tire- proof rooms attached, 
used for keepiug the records con- 
nected with the different offices. 
These rooms are large and dry, and of 
sufficient size to contain all of the 
records of the county at present. In 
i he center of the building there is a 
wide hall extending the entire length 
of the building, from the front vesti- 
bule at the entrance on ' Jefferson 
street. There is another hall of the 
same width leading from an entrance 
door at the middle of the house on 
Main street. This hall intersects the 
main hall. In the eastern part of the 
main hall a stairway leads to the sec- 
ond floor. Above the second floor 
the building is of brick. The second 
floor is used for the court room and 
offices. Like ancient Gaul, it is 
divided into three parts. At the front' 
or west end is a hall, or rather, a land- 
ing, for the main stairway from below, 



which starts on either hand from the 
main entrance on the ground floor. 
From this hall or landing, stairways 
lead on either side to the gallery of 
the court room. In the center is the 
court room, which occupies three- 
fourths of the entire floor; on the 
east, in the rear of the court room, on 
the south is a room occupied during 
term time as the Clerk's office. In 
the center is a small hall at the head 
of the stairway before spoken of. 
On the north is the Judge's room. 
Alongside of the Judge's room, to the 
west is a stairway leading to jury 
rooms, and up to the attic. On top, 
of the roof is a large cupola, in which 
is a clock and bell. On the west 
front is the main entrance to the 
building, which is an arcade of about 
thirty feet in length, and ten feet 
wide, consisting of three arches, sup-, 
ported in the front by stone pillars 
and masonry, the ends being closed. 
The approach to this is by five steps 
of stone, extending entirely across the 
building:. Surrounding' this arcade, 
and entered from the second floor of 
the building, is a beautiful open stone 
porch, the roof of which is supported 
by four huge pillars of stone of the 
Ionic order. 

The original cost of this structure 
was $36,000. Mr. David Dubach, 
now of Hannibal, Mo., was the archi- 
tect. The builders were David 
•Dubach, Henry C. Kyle and J. W. 
Hinds. 

The County Asylum — Is a farm of 
one huudred and twenty acres of land, 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



177 



having large buildings of stone, situ- 
ated about two and one-half miles 
west of Madison. The place is ample 
to sustain and keep all the paupers of 
the county. Under the early system 
of the country, the paupers were 
farmed out to the lowest bidder, but 
in the course of time this class had 
increased so much in numbers as to 
require a different arrangement for 
their care and keep. A Poor Farm 
was established by the county about 
three miles northwest of Madison. 
This was used for many years. Next, 
property was purchased upon Ryker's 
Rid^e, about two miles northeast of 
town, ami a large brick edifice was 
erected. This was used for some 
years. The house having burned, the 
commissioners sold that site and 
bought the one west of the city. 

Early Religion. — Copy of a letter 
from Rev. Love II. Jameson : 

Indianapolis, 
5th Feb'y, 1889. 
W. P. Hendricks, Esq., 

Madison, Ind. 

Dear Sir: — Your letter of 25th ult. 

i eived; contents carefully noted. 

Mv very imperfect vision, and the 
difficulty with which I write, will 
account for my delay in answering. 
Any statements which I make will be 
confined to the first and second 
decades of the century. 

Any incidents occurring during the 
first decade, that I may mention will 
be as reported to me by my father 
and others who took part in them. 
The incidents of the second decade 



will consist mainly of personal recol- 
lection. 

What is now called Jefferson county 
began to be settled bv settlers from 
Kentucky during the first years of the 
century ; a settlement on Indian Ken- 
tucky creek gave it its present name. 

In the year 180<> George Richey, 
my uncle, from Garrard county, Ken- 
tucky, settled on Cliffy, three miles 
west of the present city of Madison, 
and one-half mile north of Edwards' 
Mill, on Clifty. He was followed by 
my father in 1810, who settled on 
lands owned by Alexander McNutt, 
immediately opposite Clifty Falls, on 
the south side of the creek. This 
was my birthplace. I was born on 
the 17th day of May, 1811. 

I always understood, from my father 
and others, that the city of Madison 
was laid out by Col. John Paul, Jona- 
than Lyons, and another whose name 
I have forgotten, in the fall of the yeai 
1810, and the lots began to be disposed 
of in the spring of the following year. 

The country was being rapidly 
settled, and in consequence the town 
grew up quickly. 

During the last years of the first 
decade, Jesse Yaw ter and his brother 
Philemon, both of them Baptist preach- 
ers, settled in the vicinity of the site of 
Madison. Jesse settled on the top of 
what is now known as the Michigan 
Hill, and Philemon at the foot, in the 
valley of Crooked Creek, in the edge 
of what is now the old cemeterj . : 

My impression is that these men 

• Springdale cemetery is meant. 



178 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



were the first men in the vicinity who 
established a church. They subse- 
quently build their meeting-house on 
the top of the hill immediately west 
of Irish Hollow, and called it Mount 
Pleasant, The preachers of the 
Baptist denomination who succeeded 
the Vawters, it will be impossible 
fur me to name in order of succes- 
sion, nor can 1, with any certainty, 
aive the date of their service or 
employment. Col. John Vawter and 
his brother James — sons of Jesse 
Vawter — and James Glover, a son- 
in-law, were largely instrumental in 
extending the church throughout the 
county. 

Col. John Vawter (if my memory 
serves me) kept the first store in 
Madison ; his place of business being 
on the southwest corner of Mulberry 
and Main Cross streets." 

As early as the year 1806, Bazaleel 
Maxwell settled in the vicinity of 
Hanover; he was followed by rela- 
tives bearing the names of Maxwell, 
McCullouih and Tilford, who brought 
with them from Kentucky a preacher 
by the name of John McClung. 
McClung was a licentiate of the 
Presbyterian Church, but had left 
that church before leaving Kentucky, 
and associated himself with Barton 
W. Stone. As soon as they reached 
the territory, McClung began to 
evangelize through the country and 
establish preaching places, from the 
mouth of Saluda to the east fork of 
Indian Kentucky, in the north part of 

* Miin and Main Cross was the place. 



what is now call.d Shelby township. 
He preached in the neighborhood of 
the residence of a Mrs. Snodgrass, on 
Saluda Creek; at Samuel Maxwell's, 
four miles west of Hanover, on White 
River; at Junes Crawford's, on the 
north bank of Clifty, three miles west 
of Madison ; at William Rickey's, on 
the middle fork, just above where the 
railroad now crosses that stream ; at 
Thomas Jameson's (my father's), on 
the Michigan road, nine miles north 
of Madison, and at George Myers' 
five miles north-east of Thomas 
Jameson's, on the east fork of Indian 
Kentucky, and three miles north of 
Canaan. He continued to minister 
in these several localities till the year 
1820, when he removed to Indian- 
apolis, where he died shortly after- 
ward. He preached the first sermon 
ever preached iu Indianapolis, and 
died the week after. (See Nolan's 
History of Indianapolis. ) 

The second of these preaching 
places (Kent on White River), and 
the last two (Liberty, on the Michi- 
gan road, and Shelby, on east fork of 
Indian Kentucky) became and still 
remain churches. 

During th 3 second decade the fol- 
lowing traveling preachers visited 
and preached in these several places, 
viz. : Henrv Brown, Joshua Lindsay, 
Freeman Walden, Harrison Osborne, 
Benj. F.Hall, John Mavity, Fletcher 
Mavity, Francis D. Palmer, John 
Rogers, Samuel Rogers, Barton W. 
Stone, Joseph Trowbridge, Daniel 
Combs, William Kinkaid, Reuben 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



179 



Dooley, James Hughes, and others 
whose names I do not now remember. 
These three churches, subsequently, 
came into what we now call the 
Reformation. 

At a very early period the Metho- 
dists began to establish themselves in 
Madison; this was during the first 
half of the second decade. 

The first preachers, to the best of 
my recollection, were Dr. John Heath, 
who used to visit and preach at Lib- 
ert)-, William Wallace, the father of 
James Wallace, and Dr. Oglesby. They 
soon became the leading religious 
denomination in town, and from that 
point spread over the country. 

The Presbyterians appeared during 
the first half of the second decade and 
were ministered to by the Rev. Mr. 
Johnson, with whom I was personally 
acquainted. There was a congregation 
of Seceders some two or three miles 
southwest of Hanover, ministered to 
by a gentleman whose name was Ful- 
ton. 

Any other items (in regard to the 
early history of Madison and vicinity 
that I am aide to furnish) it will afford 
me great pleasure to lay before you, if 
you desire. 

Very truly yours, 

L. H. Jameson. 

Churches. 

The first church organized in the 
county was the Mount Pleasant Bap- 
tist church, in March, 1807, on the 
hill near North Madison. It was first 
called Crooked ('reek church, but was 



afterwards changed in name. As will 
be seen by the biographical sketches, 
in this work the Baptist Christians 
were zealous in organizing churches 
wherever "two or three" were met 
together. They grew up with the 
county and now occupy a front rank. 
They have a large congregation in 
Madison and worship in a fine brick 
building on Vine street, between Main 
and Third. At present they are with- 
out a minister. Throughout the county 
are Wirt, Hebron, Hopewell, Dupont, 
Flatbottom, Ryker's Ridge and Saluda 
churches. 

There is a " colored " Baptist church 
in Madison. 

MetJwdist.— The Methodist church 
was first organized in Madison by the 
Rev. Walter Griffith, who was on the 
Lawrenceburg circuit in the year 1811. 
One account says it was in July, and 
another that it was in October of that 
year that he " formed a class at George 
Burton's house," which was at about 
the point where the city water-works 
engine-house now stands. Elijah 
Sparks, an attorney and afterwards a 
judge, was a zealous local M. E. 
preacher, probably the first man wh<> 
preached regularly in the town. Col. 
Patrick Brown, of Kentucky, preached 
frequently before 1811. Col. Brown 
removed to this count)", and lived and 
died on a farm two miles from town, 
on what is now known as the Tele- 
graph Hill. The first Methodist church 
building was made in Madison in 1816. 
It was a small brick house, situated on 



180 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



the lot at the northeast corner of 
Main and East streets. 

The church grew and multiplied in 
the county until it is now tbe strong- 
est Protestant chinch ; their buildings 
are scattered all over the count}- and 
their names are many. In the city of 
Madison is Trinity church ; pastor, J. 
W. Turner, with a membership of sonic 
six hundred. They have a fine, com- 
modious brick building on Broadway ; 
North Madison, Mt. Zion, Olive 
Branch churches in Madison township; 
Morris Chapel and Pleasant Ridge in 
Milton ; Big Creek and Mud Lick in 
Monroe; Canaan in Shelby; Dupont 
in Lancaster. Churches in all of the 
townships. 

There are several churches of col- 
ored persons, of Methodist belief, in 
the county. Two of them in the city 
of Madison. 

Presbyterian. — In December, 1814, 
the Rev. "Win. Robinson, a Presby- 
terian minister, came to Madison and 
took up his residence there. There 
was no Presbyterian church at Madi- 
son, or nearer to it than Charlestown, 
in Clark county. Mr. Robinson taught 
school and pleached. Late in 1815 he 
organized the Presbyterian church in 
Madison, with a membership of fifteen 
or twenty, lie preached at first in the 
house of D. Blackmore, on Walnut and 
High streets. 

He was followed in July, 1819, by 
Thomas C. Searle, who organized the 
church at Hanover, on March 4th, 
1820, with twenty -three members, , 
who had previously belonged to Mad- 



ison church. He was installed pastor 
of the churches at Madison and Han- 
over, August 13th, INl'O. He died 
October 15th, 1821, "a minister greatly 
beloved and very useful. 1 ' 

A Mr. Trimble succeeded him for 
a short time and after him Rev. James 
Johnson. During the pastorate of 
Mr. Johnson, the great scission in the 
Presbyterian church, in 1833, occurred, 
and he cast his lot with the new 
school and formed Madison Second, 
of which he was pastor for some 
years. He was followed by Rev. 
Henry Little, Harvey Curtis, Atter- 
bury, Keigwin, Fisher and others. 
Their present minister is Bev. J. II. 
Barnard, D. D. After the split in 
the church, the Old School church 
continued as the First Presbyterian 
church of Madison, under the care of 
Rev. W. Matthews, Dr. Owen, Mr. 
Leavenworth, F. T. Brown, Rev. 
Simms, Rev. Hawes, Pi of. Ryois, Dr. 
Archil, aid E. Barr, Win. C. Young 
and Dr. Simpson. Their present 
pastor is Rev. W. R. Brown, D. D. 

These are now united in one Assem- 
bly and under one faith. The Second 
Church building, a neatly finished 
brick, is on the northeast corner of 
Third and West streets. The house 
of the First Church is ou the north- 
east corner of Broadway and First 
streets. 

Jefferson church, in Shelby town- 
ship, was organized October 17th, 
1818, by Rev. Orrin Fowler, of the 
" Connecticut Missionary Society, " 
with fourteen members. Lancaster 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



181 



church, in Lancaster township — after- 
wards in Monroe township — was the 
Presbyterian church for that portion 
of the county. In Is.",:;, Monroe 
church was formed, in the scission of 
the church. At the healing of the 
difficulty these two churches came 
together under the name of Monroe, 
and exist as the Monroe.church t »-day. 
There is a neat stone church belong- 
ing to this congregation eight miles 
north from Madison. 

Smyrna Presbyterian church is 
situated in Smyrna township, eighl 
miles from Madison. Rev. A. X. 
Moore is in charge of this, Hanover 
and Sharon Hill. Sharon Hill is 
about four miles west of Hanover, in 
Republican township. 

At this time, January, L889, Han- 
over has a membership of 17:!; Sharon 
Hill, 57; Smyrna, 34; Malison First, 
190; Madison Second, 14.'!; Monroe, 
37 : Jefferson, :','.». 

Tin United Presbyterian. — There 
are two congregations of this church 
in this county. One at Madison, under 
the care of Rev. .1. L. Aten, and one 
at CarmeLin Hanover township, under 
Rev. Jackson. The membership of 
this branch of the church is principally 
among the farming community. 

lite Episcopal church. — There is 
but one regularly organized church of 
this denomination in the county; that 
is"Ohrist Church" of Madison. The 
membership is about 100. Rev. Heer- 
mans is the preacher. 

The Church in Jiesits Christ. — This 
denomination has a 



congregation m 



Madison, which was organized Maj 
29th, 1836, with twenty-three members. 
J. M. Tilford was made bishop pro 
tun. There is one of their churches 
in Monroe township, called "Liberty," 
the oldest in the county; there arc 
several others through the county. 
The edifice in Madison is a ven nice 
brick, beautifully finished. They have 
no pastor at present. 

The United Brethren have several 
organizations in the county, but at 
present. there is no regular services held 
in any of their churches. 

The Roman Catholic. -This church 
has two fine edifices in the city of 
Madison : St. Michael's, at the head of 
Church street, on the north of Third, 
Father Gueguen, priest; and St. 
Mary's, on Second street, east of Wal- 
nut, Father Seepe, priest. St. Mich- 
ael's is the older building, and was 
for many years the only one in the 
city. It is of stone, and quite a large 
and good house. It is the church 
of the English-speaking members. 
St. Maiy's is a beautiful house of 
brick, and is the German Catholic 
church. At North Madison is another 
church, St. Patrick's, Father Wiederin- 
priest. The house is a substantial 
brick. At China is another Catholic 
church. 

The Universalist. —There is a church 
of this order in Madison ; the house, 
a pleasant little frame, is situated on 
Poplar Lane, near Third. There is 
also an organization in Saluda town- 
ship. 



182 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Acfoentists. — There is a society of 
Seventh Day Adventists in Monroe 
township, but there is no report of 
the organization furnished for publi- 
cation. 

Morgan Raid. — In July, 1863, dur- 
ing the late civil war, John Morgan, 
a General in the rebel army, passed 
through this county on his raid through 
Indiana and Ohio. His troops destroyed 
a great amount of property, but as their 
visit was somewhat restricted as to 
time, their opportunity for plunder 
was straitened also, to the advantage 
of the citizens of the county. 

Morgan seemed to be heading for 
Madison for the purpose of plunder, 
and of escape back into Kentucky, but 
the city was so well garrisoned by 
troops of the Indiana Legion, that he 
made a detour northward from Lexing- 
ton, Scott county, towards Vernon, 
Jennings county: so that the main 
body of his troops went only through 
the western and northern portions of 
the county. The route of his men was 
marked by wanton destruction of 
property, the roads being strewn with 
all kinds of portable property, taken 
from the houses and farms of the citi- 
zens, and when found to be in the way 
of the soldiers, or from panic of the 
pursuing troops under Gen. Hobsori, 
were cast aw a v in order to lighten their 
horses. The road from Dupont across 
to the Michigan road was covered 
with hams, shoulders and side meat 
and merchandise of all kinds taken 
from Maytield's pork house and the 
stores of Dupont. The fields of wheat 



alongside of the road, were, in many 
instances, entirely destroyed by the 
cavalry riding through them, and 
allowing the horses to forage upon the 
shocks, and by trampling them under 
the feet of the horses. The railroad 
bridges for miles on either side of the 
line of their march were burned, and 
the track of the railroad was torn up 
wherever any party of the rebels 
crossed it. The railroad track at 
Dupont was of such a construction 
as to resist their attempts at tearing 
it up and destroying it at that place, 
to the great astonishment of the rebels 
who had never seen any combination 
rails before. Five miles of the road 
(two and one-half miles on either side 
of Dupont) was laid with rails which 
lapped and were bolted together, so 
that the track for this distance was 
one continuous rail. 

The farmers of the county suffered 
considerable loss from both of the 
armies — the army of Gen. Morgan 
taking the best of the horses that they 
could find, and the pursuing army, 
under Gen. Hobson, taking the greater 
part of the remnant. In this case, the 
prayers of farmers were as hearty 
to be delivered from their friends as 
they had been before to be delivered 
from their enemies. For these losses, 
by the two armies, many of the citi- 
zens have not been reimbursed to this 
day. Although it was but a 'light 
touch of the hand of war, the people 
did not recover from its effects for 
years. May we not experience 
another, especially of the character of 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



18:? 



that, where brother was arrayed 
against brother for the destruction of 
each other. This was not true only 
as to the nation, but was a literal fact' 
as to families ; in one instance, a 
brother with the rebels sending a mes- 
sage to one of the towns to his brother 
that he would kill him on sight. 
Happily they did not meet. 

Madison. — The city of Madison is 
the county seat of the county, and the 
oldest town in the count}-. It was 
named for James Madison, President 
of the United States. There is no 
record of the date at which it was 
made the seat of government of the 
county. It had a population of 8.'.»4r> 
in 1880, and is supposed at this time 
( 1889) to have about 10,000. 

History of Madison.— The town of 
Madison was originally laid out in 
the year 1810. The first sale of lots 
was made in February, 1811. 

The original town was laid off in a 
parallelogram of four blocks, contain- 
ing sixteen squares of eight lots each. 
It was laid out on the magnetic merid- 
ian, so that the streets ran directly 
east and west and north and south. 
The first plat contained live streets 
running east and west. High, Sec- 
ond, Main Cross, Third, and Back — 
now Fourth Street. High street was 
the southern boundary of the town, 
and. Back, the northern boundary. 
There were also rive streets running 
north and south at right angles with 
these, viz: Fast — the eastern bound- 
ary — Walnut, Main, Mulberry and 



West, which was the western limit of 
the town. 

The original town was embraced in 
section two, town III. north, range 
X east. The ground was originally 
purchased by John Paul, in the spring 
sale of lands at Jeffersonville, in the 
year 1809. He and Lewis Davis and 
Jonathan Lyons entered into a part- 
nership in the lands and laid out the 
town. 

The second sale of lots was held 
June 12th, 1812. 

Additions were afterwards made 
to the town to the east, west and 
north, extending the area of the town 
into section three, town III north, 
range X east, and into sections thirty- 
four and thirty-live, town IV north, 
range X east. 

All of the river front south of 
High — now First — was afterwards 
platted as liver blocks. These have 
Keen since subdivided, and thus the 
descriptions of city property are 
various and to a stranger seemingly 
complicated. In making the additions 
west to the original town, the trend 
of the river was followed, making a 
bend in the streets. 

The city of Madison is situated on 
the north bank of the Ohio river, on 
a plateau of ground which is really a 
peninsular tongue of land, formed by 
the waters of the Ohio river on the 
south and the waters of Crooked Creek 
on the north, and drawing towards and 
finally uniting with the ( >hio to the 
west. The city extends in length,' 
from east to west, something over two 



184 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



miles, and from north to south about 
the distance of three-fourths of a mile. 
The ground is slightly rolling towards 
either water course, so that the whole 
city is naturally drained about equally 
toward each stream, and is conse- 
quently high, dry and healthy. It is 
about 1500 feet above the sea level. 
On the north of the city the hills 
arise quite abruptly to the height of 
nearly four hundred feet. At Wal- 
nut street there is a long hollow run- 
ning north into the hills for about 
two miles, down which Crooked 
Creek comes into the city and skirts 
along the foot of the bluffs or hills. 
Madison is situated iu latitude 38 
degrees and six minutes north, and 
longitude 8 degrees ami 20 minutes 
west from Washington. 

The early history of the town is, 
like that of the county, hard to get 
hold of. The absence of the county 
records, before the year 1812, makes 
it almost impossible, after the death 
of the early settlei's, to establish any 
facts in regard to the early doings 
of the inhabitants. Almost every 
inquiry meets with diffei*ent answers, 
which have been partially learned 
and largely deduced, and principally 
guessed at ; so that the seeker after 
facts has a hard time to get them, 
although meeting constantly with 
persons desirous and anxious to 
enlighten and assist him. 

It is prima facie fact that the town 
was built, and it is acknowledged on 
all hands as to who were the first 
proprietors, but after that the skein 



is so terribly tangled that it cannot 
be straightened and unravelled. 

Stores. — Probably the first store 
in the town was kept by Col. John 
Vawter, who came to this county in 
1806, with his father, Elder Jesse 
Vawter. His place of business was 
on the southeast corner of Main and 
Jefferson streets, just west of and 
opposite to the court house. When 
he established this store cannot be 
determined, nor how long he con- 
tinued it. He went to Jennings 
county in 1815, with David McClure, 
and they laid out the present town 
of Vernon. Afterwards he went to 
Indianapolis, when that place was 
determined upon as the seat of gov- 
ernment for the State. Later he 
was assisting in laying out and 
making the town of Morgantown, and 
again at some two or three points on 
the old Madison & Indianapolis rail- 
road. Another of the early mer- 
chants here was John Sering who, 
came in the year 1810, and was made 
county treasurer in 1X1:?. He was 
appointed as the first postmaster and 
held the office for many years. He 
kept a store on the northeast corner 
of Main and Jefferson streets, where 
Gertz 1 bakery now is. At a later 
date Mr. Sering established the first 
cotton mill in Madison. It stood on 
the ground now occupied by the resi- 
dence of Mr. James J. Sering, on N. 
Jefferson street. It had only machin- 
ery for making cotton yarn. This 
was made from cotton rolls or bat- 
ting, and was an industry of very 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



185 



nearly as great importance in that 
day as the great cotton mills of our 
day, where the raw cotton is made 
into cloths of different grades by 
machinery. At that time the major- 
ity of all of the cloths that were used 
were made by the women from the 
raw material, whether of flax, cot- 
t >n or wool, carding by hand, spin- 
ning the thread, and then weaving 
on a hand loom. 

Dr. Drake & Co. started the first 
drugstore in 1813. Then followed 
Moody Park, Stephen C. Stevens — 
afterwards lie studied law and was one 
of the judges of the State Supreme 
Cuirt. The two Hunt's, John and Nat 
MeCabe & Co., Clarkson, John Meln- 
tir ', A. C. Lauier, David McClure, John 
Newberry, Wm. Robinson, John 
Sheets, B. W. G rover, V. and J. King 
Milton Stapp, all kept dry goods and 
groceries, boots and shoes, hardware 
etc D. Blackmore, John Lee, Robert 
Trotter, Win. Brown, C. Basnett, John 
Kirk, Jacob Luck, Hunter, were early 
time hatters. C. C. Jeffreys, Jones 
Simpson, Brant, McCullough were 
among the earl)' slvei smiths. 

Taverns. — John Booth was the first 
tavernkeeper, on the easl side of Jef- 
ferson street, below Second. Samuel 
Burnet built a log . tavern on the 
present site of the Masonic Temple; 
David Maxwell followed him. His 
tavern had a sign of two cross keys. 
After that it was known as the 
Bell tavern, because of the big bell 
which hung on the sign post. This 
tavern was torn down in 1837. Then 



followed Ristine at the corner of Mul- 
berry and Main, Cross and Stapp ; 
John Pugh on the site of the present 
Madison hotel; Ira Wells on Second 
street ; R. R. Rea on the south of the 
court house square. 

Physicians. — Dr. Fisk was the first 
physician. Dr. Hicks, Dr. Cravens, 
Dr. Good, two Dr. Howes, Dr. Watts, 
Drs. Norwood, Hodges and Rogers 
and Dr. McClure. 

The bar is spoken of in another 
place. 

Newspapers. — The Western Eagle 
was the first paper published in the 
town of Madison and the second one 
published in the State. TJie Western 
Sun (published in Vincennes, begin- 
ning in 1804), being the first one. It 
was established by Win. Hendricks 
and Wm. Cameron, the first numbei 
being issued on May 26th, 1813, at 
Madison, Indiana territory. In the 
address to the public the editor says it 
" will be published weekly, and printed 
on a royal sheet." It was a lour page 
paper, with four columns to the page. 
It had news fiom all over our country 
of from four to six weeks old. This 
paper continued in the hands of Hen- 
dricks and Cameron until the year 
1815, when Hendricks sold out to 
Cameron. After that time there is no 
reliable history concerning it. 

Indiana Republican. — As nearly as 
can be determined, this paper was 
estabished by John Lodge. The date 
of publication was April 8th, 1817. 
It had as first editor, John Lodge. He 
edited the paper a little over one year. 



1SG 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



He was one of the early citizens of 
Madison and was engaged in the plant- 
ing business for a number of years; 
afterwards he was engaged in mer- 
ehandise for some years. He Avas one 
of the first passenger conductors on 
the Madison & Indianapolis railroad, 
and was killed in an accident upon the 
road Nov. 1 4th, 1845. 

Col. < '. P. J. Arion, a brother-inJaw 
of Mr. Ledge, became the editor and 
co-proprietor of this paperin 1818 and 
was editor for fifteen years, withdraw- 
ing from the [tape]' August 22d, 1833. 

Mr. Arion was a Kentuckian by 
birth, and a brick mason and plas- 
terer by trade. "\\ hile he was still 
quite a young man his mother came to 
Madison for the purpose of freeing her 
slaves, and Mr. Arion came here with 
her. The Carter brothers, Jacob, 
Peter and Dick and their mother, were 
of them. Col. Arion made some money 
and was for years in quite easy circum- 
stances ; but later in life he lost in 
business, and went to Chicago many 
years ago. He died several years since 
quite poor. 

The Weekly Banner. — Early in the 
summer of 1833, Judge Courtland 
Cashing and Judge Ebenezer Patrick, 
of Salem, Ind., formed a co-partnership 
for the purpose of establishing a paper 
in Madison, Ind., and got so far as to 
circulate a prospectus and take sub- 
scriptions. This was the Banner, a 
weekly paper. After going thus 
far, an arrangement was effected 
between this paper and the Indiana 
Rep ii hi lean, also a weekly, before men- 



tioned. The result of this arrange- 
ment was that Judge dishing with- 
drew his connection with the Weekly 
Banner and Col. Arion withdrew his 
connection with the Indiana Republi- 
can, and the two were combined, with 
Judge Patrick as the editor, as the 

Republican and Ranner. — The first 
number of this paper was issued 
August 22d, is:;:;. Lodge still held 
an interest in the paper. 

In the absence of old files of the 
paper there are lapses of time not 
accounted for. John W. (jr. Simrall 
at one time was an edit r. 

In the year 1841, Mr. 1>. I). Jones 
purchased an interest in i his paper 
and was the editor, the firm name 
being Jones & Lodge. 

In 1847, Mr. W. W. Crail became 
a partner of Jones in the paper, and 
the firm was Jones A: Crail. 

In 1850 The Daily Banner was 
started by this firm, it being the first 
daily paper printed in the State. The 
Republican Banner and the Daily 
Banner were Whig in politics. 

Copy of a letter: 

"Madison, Ind., Jan. 1, 1889. 
Dear Friend: 

As requested, I furnish 
you such data as are in my possession, 
in regard to the subject spoken of: 

My father, Daniel D. Jones, was 
born in the county of Cardigan, in the 
south of Wales, on Thursday, Oct. 1st, 
1801. John D. Jones, his father, emi- 
grated to America in April, 1817, with 
his family, landing at New York city, 
from which place he journeyed toBal- 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



187 



timore, Md. My father, about this 
time, I think, entered the Baltimore 
America/) newspaper office, where he 
learned the trade of a printer. * ' :: ' * 
When he left Baltimore I have no 
data. He left Baltimore and came 
west and located at Bardstown, K\.. 
where he for some time edited, pub- 
lished and printed a Presbyterian 
paper. 

Afterwards he was editor and pro- 
prietor of the Bardstown Herald, until 
he removed to this place (Madison, 
Indiana,) where he printed and pub- 
lished tht' Republican Banner, associ- 
ated with others in said paper. lie 
was married January 22d, 1829, to 
Miss Mary Margaret Simpson, by the 
Rev. J. T. Hamilton, of Louisville, 
Ky. His death occurred September 
21st, 1851. Tuos. S. Jones." 

The paper passed under the direc- 
tion of Hon. John R. Cravens, a( the 
death of Mr. Jones. Succeeding him 
W. W. Woollen and Gen. Milton 
Stapp. Then W. H. Keys. This 
paper died shortly after the campaign 
of 1852. 

Madison Daily Tribune was estab- 
lished in 1851, by John (i. Seringand 
Milton Gregg. It was published but 
a short time when it was taken to 
New Albany, Indiana. 

Weekly Madison Courier. — This 
paper was established in 1N.37, by Mr. 
Grey, and passed into the hands of 
Doolitfle & O'Grady, O'Grady as 
editor, after Rolla Doolittle was edi- 
tor. Then S. F. Covington, later Col. 
M. C. Garber was the editor — and 



continued in charge of it until he went 
in to the P. O., when M. C. Garber, 
his son, was made the editor; he still 
is in charge of the paper. While Col. 
Garber was at the head of the paper 
— some time in the '50's — the Daily 
was commenced. This was stalled as 
a Democratic paper, but on account of 
the difference caused by the fugitive 
slave law in that party, Col. Garber 
drew off from that party, and finally 
became a Republican, and his paper a 
Republican paper. It is. now the lead- 
ing paper of the countj . 

Tin Daily Madisonian was estab- 
lished at this time (1852), by t lie 
Bright wing of the Democratic party, 
R. S. Sproule, editor. It only lasted 
tli rough the campaign. 

Tin Progress, edited by X. Man- 
ville, was established later as a 
Democratic paper, but lasted but a 
short time. 

Tin Daily Tin Press was estab- 
lished in the year 1867 by Llewellyn 
Jones ; I. D. Simpson, editor. It was 
quite successful till January 1st, Is 70. 
when the office burned. 

Major Simpson started a daily 
after the burning of the Free, Press. 
It was also called the "Fret Press."" 
It soon broke down. 

In ls7o\ Maj. J. D. Simpson 
started The Madison Star, an eve- 
ning daily, which he continued to the 
time of his death. It was finally 
bought out by the Courier Co. 

The Madison Herald. In 1875, a 
stock company started this paper as 
a weekly and semi-weekly paper, Dr. 



188 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



^Llewellyn Jones as editor. It after- 
wards changed hands and was edited 
by Mr. Lin Jones. Later, Mr. M. A. 
Barnett, who established a daily, was 
editor and proprietor. He sold an 
interest to Dr. Bartlett. It was then 
made a stork company again, with Mr. 
Lin Jones as editor. 

There have been some other papers 
printed in Madison, but the facts as to 
them cannot be satisfactorily obtained 
as they are not mentioned. 

Industries of Madison. — Flouring 
Mills. — Of all the industries of the 
city of Madison, perhaps that of mill- 
ing stands at the head, both as to time 
of beginning and as to importance. 

The earliest inhabitants had their 
grinding done at the "Old Grey Mill," 
at Mount Byrd, Kentucky. One of 
the first boys of the town — who is still 
Hying — says he recollects of hearing 
his father say that Elder Jesse Vawter 
told him " that he would come out on 
the point on his farm at Mt. (Had, and 
hail old man Grey at his mill across 
the river, asking him whether he could 
get his grist soon if he came over with 
it. if the reply was satisfactory, he 
would cross with it to the mill." This 
is thrown in to show the importance 
of the mill in the new community, and 
necessity for the election of one at as 
early a date as possible. 

The first mill known in this part of 
the county was Col. John Paul's, which 
was built on Crooked Creek, at the 
head of Mill street, iu the present city 
of Madison. Just when it was built 
cannot now be positively ascertained, 



but there is mention of it as early as 
1814, and possibly 1813. It w r as run 
by water power. The next mill was 
built in 1831-3-2, by Sam. K. Page, 
Richard Dearborn and Alexander 
Washer. A large steam mill, on the 
site now occupied by the stove foundry 
works. The first building was frame 
which burned, and the elegant Star 
Mills, brick was built. 

David "White fitted up as a mill 
about 1S46, an old stone building at 
the east end of the city. This was 
built for a mill by Dr. Israel T. Canby 
many years before, but had never 
been fitted for work, no machinery 
having been put into it. 

Then the Magnolia Mills at the foot 
of Broadway was built in 1850 or 
L851. This burned in the fall of 
1854. The next was the Palmetto 
Mills, built by Wm. Griffin, occupying 
the site of Johnson's starch factory. 
It was enlarged by Shrewsbury and 
Price who run them for a few years. 
They were destroyed by fire October 
28th, 1858. 

In 1856, M. Isaac Dulton fitted up 
a mill on the north-east corner of West 
and Second streets, which he sold to 
Mr. W. W. Page. M. Page sold to 
Messrs. Trow & Stapp December 11th, 
1858. They continued there till 
August, 1869, when they fitted up the 
large building opposite on the south 
side of Second street, and ran a large 
mill there till 1881, when it burned. 
In 1882, Wm. Trow & Son built the 
present large mill at the foot of Broad- 
way. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



189 



About I860 there was a mill fitted 
up in a large.building on the west side 
of Jefferson, at < >hio street, which was 
used as a custom mill. It finally was 
burned in 1878 or 1879. In 1802, 
Mi'. Gordon fitted up a mill on Main 
street, between Broadway and Poplar 
Lane. He afterwards builta lartre brick 
mill at the same place, which is now the 
Taylor-Hitz Co. mill. A little later, 
\Y. W.Page established a custom mill 
at the north-east corner of Main and 
Broadway. T. A. Pague and A. 
Schiek fitted up a mill on West street, 
on the south bank of Crooked Creek, 
but ran it but a short time. Stapp 
& Trow afterward bought it, and ran 
it till it was blown up. 

Schneider & Wehrle fitted up the 
old Shuh oil mill for a custom grist 
mill, and ran it for sometime. About 
L866, R. J. Hurlbut and Capt. Haynes 
used this mill, grinding hominy, corn 
meal and flour. It passed into the 
hands of Louis Rock. 

Oil Mills.— V. & J. King had prob- 
ably the first oil null, for making Lin- 
seed oil, in the town. Afterwards 
Jacob Shuh put up a steam mill for 
making oil, combining a carding 
machine with it. 

About 1845, Whitney A- Hendricks 
built a large mill for making linseed 
oil and meal, and quite an extensive 
woolen mill attached to it. This mill 
was on the east side of AVest street, 
and north of the creek. It proved 
too large a business for the place. 

Castor Oil Mill— In 1849, Milton 
Gregg and E. Morehouse built a large 



mill for making castor oil, just south 
of the last-mentioned mill. This indus- 
try was in advance of its day and went 
under. 

Coif mi Mills. — The second cotton 
mill of Madison was built by a man 
by the name of Ballentine, and became 
the property of V. tfe J. King. It was 
a steam mill, and quite a large thing 
for the date. The machinery manu- 
factured the yarn from the raw mater- 
ial. The King Brothers ran it till the 
improvement in machinery at other 
places made this unprofitable, when 
they closed down. 

The old mill stood on the west side 
of Central avenue below First, below 
the second bank or rise from the river. 
It was two stories and an attic in 
height, the first story being below the 
street. It was afterwards made into a 
planing mill by Todd & Kyle. Later it- 
was a paper mill, owned.by R. Manville. 
Finally it burned. At the time it was 
1 niiltjit was as advanced, comparatively, 
as the present mill on Church street. 

For many years the cotton industry 
was quiet in Madison; but in 1883 it 
was revived, and the Eagle Cotton 
Mills were built in 1*84. 

Woolen Industry. — The first men- 
tion of this industry is, "that the Rev. 
Wm. Robinson, the first Presbyterian 
preacher, erected a 'carding machine' 
on lot 36, Old Town. After Mr. 
Robinson was John M. Watson ; then 
came Braxton AYilson in the house on 
the south side of Third street, and the 
east side of the first alley west of 
West street. Old Father James Cot- 



190 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



torn was the foreman and carder. Then 
came the carding rooms of Mr. Shuh, 
with Father Cottom as carder, referred 
to at another place, where the power 

used was steam. Next was the card- 
ing moms, and manufactory of Whitney 
tfc Hendricks — before mentioned. Af- 
ter this, with a long interval, was the 
Schofield-Hague mills at the foot of 
Central avenue, where the Globe 
Tobacco Works now stand. Some 
time after, the Schofield mills, north- 
east cornei' First and Jefferson. Last, 
the present extensive establishment 
the Louisville and Madison Woolen 
Mills, at the corner of West and 
Second. • This mill is prepared to do 
any kind of work in their line. 

Jin weries. — Old man Salmon had a 
brew-house at the eastern end of 
Second street, at about the present 
site of the Madison Brewing Go's build- 
ing. This was probably the first 
establishment of the kind in this 
vicinity. 

The next was the Schick Brewery, 
which was situated on Jefferson, north 
of Fourth street. This was abandoned 
as a brewery some years since ami 
fitted up as a canning factory. 

There was Abple's Brewery, at the 
head of Fourth street. Mat. Greiner 
built a large brewery on the ground 
at the head of Second street which 
was afterwards enlarged and the Madi- 
son Brewing Co. was formed. P. 
Weber built the Union Brewery on 
Main and Vine streets. Both of last- 
mentioned are in full operation, and 
very large concerns. 



Madison beer and ale were in long 
past, farm >us all over the West for their 
superior quality. Now they rate with 
others all over the country. The 
difference iu the purity of the water is 
the probable cause. 

SJiipyards. — The first shipyard of 
the town was operated by Joseph 
Howard and P. Einmerson, partners. 
It was established early in the decade 
of '30, and was situated at the extreme 
upper river front of the town, just 
below where the Mammoth Cave Pork 
House stood. They afterwards went 
to Jeffersonville and Howard estab- 
lished a yard there. Barmore, who 
started a shipyard in Jeffersonville, 
was a workman in the yard here and 
went to Jeffersonville with Howard. 

The Madison Murine Railway 
Shipyard was established in 1850 and 
has been in operation ever since, with 
fluctuating success and failure. At 
present it is in good condition and is 
prospering. 

The Madison Dry Dock Co. — A 
sketch of this is given by Hon. Jos. T. 
Brashear, Mayor. 

Sketch of the Madison Dry Dock, 
furnished by Hon. J. T. Brashear, 
Mayor. 

"In the year 1851), Jos. T. Brashear, 
Louis II. Vance, Henry Thompson, 
William McCleland and Samuel Beaty 
organized the Madison Diy Dock Com- 
pany, for the purpose of building and 
repairing steam boats and water crafts. 
The first boat the company built was 
the ferry boat Union, for Capt. John 
Abbott, to run as a ferry between 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



191 



Madison and Milton, Ky. They then 
built their dry dock, the dimensions 
of the dock as follows: 192 feet 
in length, 52 feet in width and 11 
feet in depth ; was finished and 
launched in the summer of 1860. The 
first boat that was placed on the dock 
for repair was the Ida May, in the fall 
of 1860. The company built the fol- 
lowing boats : Leslie Combs, for Capt. 
Stivers, for Kentucky river ; ferry 
boat O'Conner for New Albany, Lid.; 
Fannie Brandies for Capt. Thomas 
Boles, of Evansville, Ind ; Mattie Cook 
for Capt. Adam Liter for Green river ; 
two middle barges for Memphis Packet 
Co.; Carolina for Capt. Isaac Tallay of 
Madison ; Fantom for Capt. Charles 
Irwin of Madison ; ferry boat Lucy 
Taylor for Capt. Taylor of Hamilton, 
Mo. ; Indiana for Capt. J. S. Neal, of 
Madison, for the Cincinnati and New 
Orleans trade ; Calumet for Read river 
trade ; Mollie Gratz for Madison and 
Louisville trade; Rob Roy and Andrew- 
Johnson for the St. Louis and Keokuk 
Packet Co. 

The company did a large amount 
of repairing of old boats. In the 
spring of 1865 the dock was sold to 
Capt. Henry C. Watts and others. 
They erected a roof over the entire 
dock and loaded the dock with hay. 
They put 1,650 tons on her. She was 
taken in tow by the steamer Hazell 
Dell and taken to New Orleans. After 
disposing of the hay, Watts & Co. sold 
her to some New Orleans parties who 
used her for docking small crafts. 

Foundries. — The first foundry was 



carried on by Edward Shields <fe Bro. 
It was located on the northwest corner 
of Vine and High streets. The motive 
power was one blind horse. They did 
no Avork outside of a few plain castings 
and mouldboards for plows. 

Lewis & Crawford came next on the 
other side of Vine street ; from a small 
start they finally had a very large 
foundry and machine shop, turning out 
all kinds of work in their line of busi- 
ness. They accumulated quite a for- 
tune but finally by reverses died poor. 

They sold out their shops, business 
and good will to the Neals, — J. S. and 
R. E., — and Wm. Johnson, under the 
firm name of J. S. & R. E. Neal. 
This firm enlarged the premises till 
they finally had one of the largest 
foundries in the whole West. They 
finally broke up in this business, and 
started a large Agricultural Imple- 
ment Manufactory, which collapsed 
during the first years of the war. 

Lodge & Sackets started a small 
foundry on Mulberry street, near 
Fifth, on the east side of Mulberry. 
Sackets became intemperate and the 
thing went to pieces. 

Crawford & Davidson, in the 
decade of 1850. First called "Indi- 
ana Foundry," now "Madison Machine 
Works Co." 

Joseph R. Farnsworth built a 
foundry in 1848, on the river front 
between West street and Central ave- 
nue. This was burned down in '50, 
and he built on the corner of Elm and 
Ohio. This was burned three times, 
when he abandoned the business. 



192 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Cobb & Stribling afterwards refitted 
this place, and they were burned out. 

The Novelty Works was estab- 
lished by I. N. Todd, on Second, near 
Elm. After, Walker's foundry was 
removed to West street, where 
Charles Johnson now runs it. 

Starch Factories. — The first starch 
factory of any size established in the 
West was at Madison, by O'Neal 
Bailey, an Irishman. This was a fail- 
ure in his hands, but after passing 
one or two other owners it was a suc- 
cess under the management of John- 
son & Clements. Finally they sepa- 
rated their interests and each built 
works at the west end of the city, and 
are now operating two of the largest 
starch works in the whole country. 
They use daily about eighteen hun- 
dred bushels of corn in the manufac- 
ture of starch. 

They employ about one hundred 
hands each. 

Stove Foundries. — Along in the 
fifties there was a stove foundry estab- 
lished on Mulberry, below First, It 
did not continue long. 

The Madison Stove Foundry was 
established about 1883, and is doing 
a large and increasing business. 

Sato Mill*. — Dow <fe Brown have a 
large saw mill and planing mill on 
the railroad, west side of Plum street. 

D. C. Robinson & Co. have a saw 
mill on the river at the foot of Vernon 
street. 

H. Clay Jones <fe Co. have a tine 
mill on the site of the old Mammoth 
Cave pork house. 



Pork Packing. — Madison was the 
natural outlet of the county north of 
here for all of the products, and in 
the early days was sought as such. 
The Michigan road reaching to the 
lake gave a fine route for the farmers 
to haul their grain and to drive their 
hogs over. The State road was 
another artery reaching as far as Indi- 
anapolis. Along these the trade was 
established, running through the whole 
State. All routes centered at Indian- 
apolis, and as it was cheaper to drive 
than to haul, and as there were at that 
time no arrangements for any extensive 
business there, it all headed to Madi- 
son. The early establishments at this 
place gave to the packers these great 
advantages, and Madison, upon the 
opening of the Madison & Indianapo- 
lis railroad, was a point surpassed by 
none as a pork mart. Among the 
large dealers were Dearborn Godman ; 
Godman & Sons; Sering & God- 
man ; Sering & Penniston ; D. White; 
N. Powell ; Jas. Cunningham ; J. Fitch 
<fe Son, and many others. After the 
railroad outlet to Cincinnati was made, 
this trade was much lessened, but for 
many years, in fact to the time of the 
breaking out of the late war, Madison 
was in the front in this trade. 

Dry Goods. — This place was, by 
virtue of its location on the river, the 
first place of business in this line. 
The goods were hauled by wagon all 
over the State. 

The beginning in the town of the 
general store, where everything was 
kept to supply the needs of the cus- 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



193 



toiner, gave way to the store of special 
line of goods, and finally in the growth 
of the county, to the largest whole- 
sale stores in every line. The trade 
now is much lighter than it was in 
1850 to 1856, but a good business is 
done here in dry goods, shoes, gro- 
ceries and hardware, there being houses 
in each line here. 

Banking. — The Farmers' and Me- 
chanics' Bank of Indiana, located at 
Madison, was incorporated by act of 
the Territorial Legislature, dated Sep- 
tember 6th, 1814, signed by : 

Wji. Hendkicks, 
Speaker of the House of Represen- 
tatives. 

Jesse L. Holman, 
President of the Council. 
Approved, September 10, 1814. 

Th. Posey, Governor. 
This was the first banking institu- 
tion legally incorporated within the 
territory. It was recognized and con- 
firmed by the State Constitution in 
1816. The charter extended in time 
lip to January 1, 1835. Under the 
charter, the property of the bank, 
including capital stock, was restricted 
to, and not to exceed the sum of seven 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
( $ 7 50,000.) 

On January 1, 1817, the Bank of 
Vincennes was adopted by an act of 
the Legislature of the State of Indi- 
ana, as the " State Bank of Indiana," 
and was empowered conditionally, to 
adopt the Farmers' and Mechanics' 
Bank of Indiana as one of its branches. 
This was done, but the State institu- 



tion became so corrupt that it was 
deprived of its franchises arid privi- 
leges, by proceedings under a writ of 
quo warranto in the year 1812. A large 
amount of the notes of the Bank of 
Vincennes and its branches — branches 
at Vevay, Brookville and Corydon — 
became worthless, and were never 
redeemed. The notes of the Farmers' 
and Mechanics' Bank of Indiana at 
Madison, were all redeemed. 

This bank was kept in a brick house 
built for the purpose on the east side 
of Jefferson, four doors north of 
Second street. 

In 1833, the State Bank of Indiana 
was chartered with thirteen branches. 
One of these was at Madison, J. F. D. 
Lanier, first president. This continued 
till 1859, when the charter expired, 
and the business of the bank was 
wound up. 

Along in the forties, a Bank of 
Deposit and Issue was established by 
John & Victor King, John Wood- 
burn, George Leonard, and others. 
It was closed after a few years. Under 
the State Free Banking law a bank 
was established by the Madison Insur- 
ance Co., of Deposit only. The Indi- 
ana Bank was established under this 
law as a Bank of Issue and Deposit. 
This bank was re-chartered under 
the national banking law, and is now 
known as the First National Bank of 
Madison. At the closing up of the 
business of the Madison branch of 
the State Bank, a new bank was 
formed, taking the old building and 
name, being called " The National 



194 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



Branch Bank." Both of these latter- 
named banks are still in successful 
operation. 

City Directory.— -The City of Madi- 
son was incorporated in 1838, by act 
of the Legislature. 

Moody Park was the first Mayor; 
he served' from 1838 till April, 1850. 
He was succeeded by Milton Stapp 
(1850-53). Wm. Hendricks, Jr., was 
the first City Clerk, and Amariah 
Foster the first Marshal ; John Pugh 
was first Treasurer. 

The present city officials are : 

Mayor, Hon. J. T. Brashears ; Clerk, 
John A. Zuck ; Treasurer, Wm. 
H. Rogers ; Marshal, J. Hoagland ; 
Assessor, Ben Wells ; Supt. of Schools 
Prof. J. Hartin A. M. ; Board of Water- 
works, W. W. Hinds, Supt., C. E. God- 
man,Wm.Dum; Street Commissioner, 
L. Crozier. 

City Council— 1st Ward, J. W. 
Thomas, N. Hovniff ; 2d Ward, J 
Schneider, A. Chapman ; 3d Ward, 
C. Ailing, S. E. Haigh; 4th Ward, 
James White, Jonathan Schooley ; 5th 
W. W. Page, C. C. Sappington ; 6th 
Ward, S. J. Robinson, P. Klein. City 
Attorney, M. I). Willson. 

Fire Department. — Fair Play(steam) 
Fire Co. No. 1 ; Pres. John A. Zuck ; 
house, Main above Walnut. Wash- 
ington (steam) Fire Co. No. 2 ; Pres. 
Charles L. Richardson ; house, Third 
near West. W estern (steam) Fire Co. 
No. 3. Pres. Thomas B. Lockard ; 
house West Main between Mill and 
Plum streets. Washington Hook and 
Ladder Co., in Washington Fire Co's., 



house. Walnut Street Hose Co., Fire 
Co. No. 4. Pres. W. W. Hinds ; house 
east side Walnut beyond Fifth. 

City Schools. — The system of pub- 
lic schools is under the State, and all 
know what that is without any 
prompting. 

The city schools are located as fol- 
lows : The Upper Seminary on East 
Third street, south side between Wal- 
nut and East; The Walnut Street 
School on Walnut, north of Fifth. 
The Central, southeast corner Second 
and Central avenue; High School, 
northeast corner Second and Central 
avenue; Lower Seminary, Main, 
north side, Avest- of Plum ; Colored 
School, north Broadway. 

Early Time Teachers. — Rev. Wm. 
Robinson, Presbyterian minister ; Mrs. 
Searles, widow of Presbyterian preach- 
er; Mrs. Sard; Miss E. Goode ; Miss 
Mason — now Mrs. Dr. Cornett ; Mr. 
Beaumont Parks; Mr. Chute; Miss 
Johnson, an excellent teacher — she 
taught in the old Bank building ; Miss 
Brown, afterwards Mrs. Burrows; the 
Salisburys. 

Improvements. — The first account of 
the improvements in the town of 
Madison is in a sketch by Mr. D. 
Blackmore in 1850. He says: ''Hall's 
was the first improvement. (This 
wa - in what is now called Fulton.) 
Then John H. Wagner's, the second 
improvement, which was on High 
(now First) street, between Mulberry 
and Main. Lyon made the third im- 
provement, on the high ground between 
Ross' tanyard and the river. W^hen 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



195 



lie — Blackruore — built in 1811, 
besides the improvements above, there 
wereTrotter's on High, near Walnut; 
Booth's tavern on Main (now Jeffer- 
son) and Second, southeast corner; 
Burnett's tavern, a large log house with 
a porch — Hunt's property. Taylor's 
(Father Bush Taylor) saddler's shop; 
J. Wilkinson's cabin, Walnut and High, 
east of Trotter's ; Nat Hunt's old resi- 
dence ; Strickland's, on the old Bris- 
ben and Barker lot, was a place of 
prayer meetings for the Methodists." 

From that time forward there has 
been a constant advance in the build- 
ings in quality and numbers. The 
buildings, principally of brick and 
very substantially built, have, a great 
many them, long survived the builders, 
and many are now standing of sixty 
and seventy years of age, and cpiite 
strong and substantial. There are more 
of the antique than of the modern 
style here among the dwellings ; the 
business houses have been made 
more to suit the times and the advance 
in style of architecture, and there has 
been more remodeling of them, so that 
they present a more modern appear- 
ance than the majority of the dwellings. 
Taken as a whole, it is one of the most 
substantially built towns inthe State. 

Our public buildings — county and 
city — are good, handsome and com- 
modious. The fire engine houses, the 
public schools, and the churches are 
all deserving of mention. The opera 
house is also a unique thing its way. 
Not so large as some, but as tasteful 
and elegant in its appointments as any. 



Among our residences are many that 
will match in finish and comfort with 
those of any place, and if the old 
houses were modernized they would 
perhaps be injured in their home-n<>s 
more than improved, as that would be 
only in appearance. 

Fire Insurance. — The city is well 
fitted in water works, getting their 
supply from the river above the town. 
The water is forced up to the reser- 
voir on the side of the hill at the head 
of Second street, some two hundred 
feet above low water mark. There 
are also two reservoirs at the west end 
of the city, on a level with this one, 
supplied by springs and a pollywog. 
The elevation of these reservoirs is 
sufficient to force the water on top of 
the highest houses, by simply attach- 
ing hose to the fire plugs. ■ By this 
means fires are frequently drowned 
out without the use of the steam fire 
engines. Consequently the per cent, 
of loss by fire is much less than in 
other places of the same size. 

There are three steam fire engines 
belona-ina: to the city. Each one of 
these is kept and operated by volun- 
teer fire companies. Belonging to 
each of these fire companies are hi >se 
reels, carrying large quantities of hose 
for attaching to tire plugs, and to the 
engines, which force the water through 
them onto the fire. 

There is another fire company which 
has only hose. 

Summing up. — Madison was a place 
of much note at the early part of this 
century. To it was attracted a very 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



great number of people of all classes, 
characters and occupations. In 1816 
and up to 1850, it was one of the 
points of attraction as a new and 
STOwing; town in a new and growing 

o o Do 

country. There were speculations in 
town. lots, and in all other possibilities 
of fortune-making that are now sought 
in the new towns of the West. It had 
its great boom ac they have, and prop- 
erty was up to fabulous prices. The 
capitalist w as attracted to it as a place 
of investment ; the mechanic as a 
place where he could get work ; the 
merchant as a good opening for his 
business, and as a growing place ; the 
lawyer and doctor were attracted to it 
as furnishing a good opportunity for 
fame and riches ; and it was especially 
attractive to the young men of that 
day. The beauty of the location and 
its natural surroundings was added to 
all of the others which have been 
enumerated. All of these combining, 
caused an inflow of men of mark on 
account of talent and ability, such as 
but few other places of that day or 
since has had. In the first fifty years 
of the century, but few of the men of 
prominence in this country, — and of 
foreigners, traveling for instruction or 
pleasure — but that made Madison a 
point of visit. Many men who were 
afterwards of national fame were citi- 
zens of the old town. J. F. D. Lanier 
and Hugh McCullough were young 
business men of this city. The liar 
of our city in those days stood head 
and shoulders above any other in this 
State, and was the peer of any in all 



of the country. In legal attainments, 
as counsellors and as advocates, none 
surpassed the members of it. 

Judo-e Miles C. Eogrleston, "William 
Hendricks, Sr. and Jr., the Brights, 
Sullivan, Marshall, Glass, Dunn, Car- 
penter, Gen. Meek, and many others 
of those who have passed away. 

In the political arena, Madison has 
produced many names of honor and 
worth, both of State and national 
fame. William Hendricks, the first 
Member of Congress from this State, 
second Governor of the State, and 
United States Senator for twelve 
years ; Jesse D. Bright, who was Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of the State, United 
States Senator for about sixteen years, 
(and for four years of that time Presi- 
dent of the Senate) and others for a 
mention of whom space is wanting. 

As financiers, Lanier and McCul- 
lough have already been mentioned, 
but Gen. Milton Stapp, Canal Commis- 
sioner for this State and agent of State, 
and M. G. Bright, Agent of State for 
Indiana for many years, may properly 
be mentioned as men of national repu- 
tati< >n. Those of local or State fame are 
quite numerous. Lucius Barbour — the 
clock peddler — Jonathan Fitch, Na- 
than Powell, Jesse Whitehead, David 
White and so on. Names might be 
added to the list, almost ad infinitum. 

The army has had many illustrious 
names on its list from Madison. At the 
head and most conspicuous, that of 
Gen. Richard Canby, — or as the " old 
boys" of his times call him "Dick." 
In the navy is the name of Com- 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



197 



mander Napoleon B. Collins, of the 
ship Florida, a man of t world-wide 
fame, Capt. B. B. Taylor and others. 

If Madison is not known to general 
fame, it is. not on account of illustrious 
and honorable men as her citizens in 
the past, or at the present time, nor 
from want of business possibilities, as 
living is cheap and the town is 
healthy. It is " beautiful for situation," 
and nature is lovely all around her. 

There is the best of water and air, 
streets clean and dry, and lighted at 
night by the electric lights in all 
parts of the town; good hotels, and 
all other accommodations. Good town 
and good people. Give a call upon us 
and try our beautiful " little city under 
the hills," and see if she will not do as 
a place to live in, and to do business in. 

Towns of the County. 

Barbersville, in Shelby township, 
in section three, town V north, range 
XI east, was laid out by Enoch Bray 
and Thomas H. Bray, December 18th, 
1848. It contains one store, a post- 
office and a school-house. 

Brooksburgh, Milton township, in 
section one, town III north, range XI 
east, was laid out by Fletcher Tevis, 
November 21st, 1843. It has several 
stores, a blacksmith shop, church, 
school-house, post-office, a printing- 
office. It is a well-built, pretty village. 

Bryantsurgh, Monroe township, 
was laid off by Jacob Bryant, March 5th, 
1834 It contains a post-office, three 
stores, two blacksmith shops. It has 
a population of about 60. It is in 



section eleven, town V, range X east. 

Canaan is in section 21, town V, 
range XI, in Shelby township ; was laid 
off August 1st, 1836, by John Cane. It 
has several stores. One drug store, a 
cigar manufactory, a Methodist church, 
a fine public and high school building. 
Twelve miles from Madison. 

Deputy, Graham township, section 
seventeen, town IV, north, range VIII 
east, was laid out by Foster C. Wilsou 
March 29th, 1871. It is on the short 
line railroad from Louisville, Ky., to 
North Vernon, Ind. It has a popula- 
tion of about 300. Eighteen miles 
from Madison. 

Dupont, Lancaster township, on the 
J. M. & I. railroad, is in section ten, 
town V north, range IX east. It 
was laid out by James Tilton, of Wil- 
mington, Delaware, and named after his 
old friends, "the Duponts," powder 
makers, of Delaware. It has two 
churches, Methodist and Baptist ; a fine 
school-house, a number of dry goods 
and grocery stores, drug store, post- 
office, railroad station, agricultural 
implements warehouse, several black- 
smith shops, wagon- makers shop, a 
steam saw, grist and commercial mill. 
Its population is about 300. Fifteen 
miles from Madison. 

Hanover is a post office six miles 
west of Madison, section twelve, 
town III north, range IX east. 
Has a population of about five hun- 
dred. Well supplied with stores, 
blacksmith shops, a steam flouring 
mill, Presbyterian church, Methodist 
church and College building. 



198 HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



FACULTY OF HMOYER COLLEGE. 



D. W. FISHER, D. D., 

President, 

HOLLIDAY PROFESSOR OF LOGIC AND MENTAL PHILOSOPHY, AND CROWE MEMORIAL 

PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. 

Rev. JOSHUA B. GARRITT, A. M., PH. D., 

KING PROFESSOR OF GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, ANdViNSTRUCTOR IN 

FRENCH. 

FRANK LYFORD MORSE, A. M., 

SILAS C. DAY PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AND MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY. 

A. HARVEY YOUNG, A. M., 

AYERS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 

JOHN F. BAIRD, A. M., 

PROFESSOR OF LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, INSTRUCTOR IN GERMAN AND 

SECRETARY OF THE FACULTY. 



HUGH H. YOUNG, A. M., 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR. 



Miss CALLA JAMES HARRISON, 

TUTOR IN MATHEMATICS. 



Miss MADGE E. GARRITT, 

LIBRARIAN. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



199 



Hanover College is beautifully 
situated upon the top of the river 
bluff, and commands magnificent 
views up and down the river. The 
institution is under the control of 
the Presbyterian church, and was 
established in 1833. 

Subjoined is a full history of the 
college, taken from the "General 
Catalogue of the Alumni of Hanover 
College," 1833-1883." 

Historical Sketch of Hanover Col- 
lege. — Hanover College was the out- 
growth of a desire on the part of the 
Presbyterian Church in Indiana to 
provide herself with an educated 
ministry. The church in the East 
could not supply the ministry needed 
for the widely scattered but con- 
stantly growing population of the 
West. Animated Avith this desire 
the Presbytery of Salem, embracing 
Indiana and Illinois, and connected 
with the Synod of Kentucky, in 1826, 
requested the pastor of the church at 
Hanover, Rev. John Finley Crowe, 
D. D., to open and conduct an Acad- 
emy until further provision could be 
made. 

This school was opened January 
1st, 1827, with six pupils, in a log 
cabin, near where the Presbyterian 
church of Hanover now stands. 
This was the humble beginning of 
Hanover College, and of the North 
Western Theological Seminary, at 
Chicago, Illinois. 

In May, 1826, the Synod of Indiana 
was constituted, consisting of the 
Presbyteries of Salem, Madison, 



Wabash and Missouri. The school 
at Hanover was committed temjjora- 
rily to the Presbytery of Madison. 
This Presbytery applied to the Leg- 
islature of the State for a charter, 
and that body on the 30th of Decem- 
ber, 1828, passed an act incorporating 
Hanove* Academy. 

The Academy was taken under 
the care of the Synod of Indiana in 
1829. The following resolution was 
adopted by that body: 

"Hesolved, That this Synod adopt 
Hanover Academy as a Synodical 
school, provided the Trustees of the 
same will permit the Synod to estab- 
lish a Theological Department, and 
appoint Theological Professors." 

The condition was readily granted, 
and the Synod at once unanimously 
elected the Rev. John Matthews, D. 
D., of Shepherdstown, Virginia, to 
the chair of Theology. Dr. Mat- 
thews accepted, and with character- 
istic zeal gave his whole time and 
talents to the interests of the insti- 
tution. The Theological Department 
was continued at Hanover for ten 
years, when it was removed to New 
Albany, Indiana, in 1840. 

The Academy which was chartered 
in 1828, had been steadily growing ; 
regular college classes had been 
formed and in 1833, by act of Legis 
lature, the institution was incorpo- 
rated as Hanover College. 

By active agencies in the East and 
West, funds had been collected and 
the necessary buildings had been 
erected for the Preparatory, Collegi- 



200 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



ate and Theological Departments. 
The Rev. James Blythe, D. D., of 
Lexington, Kentucky, of the Presby- 
tery of West Lexington, and exten- 
sively known throughout the Church, 
was in 1832, secured as the first Pres- 
ident of the College. The first cata- 
logue issued after the change in the 
charter presents for all departments 
a Faculty of seven Professors and 
four assistants, and one hundred and 
eighty -three students: Theological 
7; Collegiate 63; Preparatory 113. 
The Board of Trustees consisted of 
eighteen members, among whom 
were these pioneers of Church and 
State : Rev. John M. Dickey, Pres- 
ident ; Rev. James H. Johnston, 
Secretary ; Hon. Williamson Dunn, 
Treasurer ; Victor King ; William 
Reed; Hon. Jeremiah Sullivan; and 
the Rev. Samuel Gr. Lowry. The 
only survivor of the Faculty of 1834, 
is Hon. William McKee Dunn, 
LL. D., Washington, D. C. 

The location of the College in that 
day was within the corporate limits 
of the village of Hanover. All that 
remains of the old buildings, is so 
much of the principal edifice as is 
embraced in the present Presbyterian 
church, and one of the shops now 
occupied as a private residence. 
None of the real estate or property 
now forms any part of the present 
property of the college. The farm 
lay north of the Spear property 
and west of Prof. Garritt's place. 
The Presbyterian church includes 



the chapel, two recitation rooms and 
part of the second story. 

So remarkable was the success of 
this pioneer institution of our church 
in the West, that the catalogue of 
1834-5, shows an attendance of 236 
students: Theological 10; Collegiate 
77; Irregular and Preparatory 149. 
These students were gathered from a 
wide territory, embracing every State 
from Pennsylvania to Texas and 
Missouri. This is explained by its 
location on the Ohio River. But this 
prosperity was followed by a period 
of darkness and trial. The Manual 
Labor System, for aiding poor stu- 
dents, attempted by many institutions 
of that day, was tried at Hanover. 
It failed and involved the institution 
in debt for every day of its continu- 
ance. It had to be abandoned, the 
expense of education was largely 
increased, and a necessary consequence 
was the withdrawal of a large num- 
ber of students. While embarrassed 
by debt and this partial withdrawal 
of support, a fearful tornado swept 
over the place in 1837, and left the 
principal college edifice in ruins. 
From these misfortunes, the college 
rallied, repaired its buildings, and 
cancelled its debts, but without 
endowment, was left in a feeble con- 
dition. 

President Blythe's connection with 
the college closed in 1836. For two 
years Dr. Matthews, of the Theologi- 
cal department acted as president, 
and in 1838, the Rev. E. D. McMaster 
D. D., LL. D., was elected to that 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



201 



post, where lie remained five years 
terminating Lis presidency by a mem- 
orable epocli in the history of the 
college. The Board of Trustees was 
a small body, a close corporation, but 
indirectly influenced by the Synod, 
and liable to the control of a power- 
ful mind and local influences. Under 
the leadership of this eminent and 
able man. a part of the Board of 
Trustees adopted a resolution to sur- 
render their charter to the Legislature 
in return for the charter of a Univer- 
sity at Madison. Thus the College 
was divided right down through 
Board, Faculty and students, part 
going with President McMaster to 
Madison, and part remaining with 
Vice-President Crowe at Hanover 
The Synod retained all its early con- 
victions of the importance of Christian 
education by the Church, and it was 
a day of great men. A struggle fol- 
lowed in which "Greek met Greek."' 
In the Synod of 1>44, Madison Uni- 
versity was offered to it as a Synod- 
ical College. The offer was declined. 
and the Synod ordered the continu- 
ance of its College at Hanover. A 
new charter was obtained, said to be 
the most favorable in the State, con- 
ferring the powers of a University, 
and placing the Institution fully under 
the control of the Synod of Indiana. 
This it does by giving to that body 
the right to elect one-half of the trus- 
tees and through them a voice in the 
election of the other half. The rights 
and franchises of the original Syaod 
have descended to the present Synod 



of Indiana. On account of the changes 
in the Synods since the reunion of 
the two former branches of the Pres- 
byterian Church some alterations have 
been made in the mode of choosing 
the members of the Board, but only 
such as are consistent with the Charter. 
For instance, the Alumni Association 
now annually nominates a member. 
But the College still remains, as it 
ever has been, firmly bound to the 
Presbyterian church. 

Through the trials and sufferings 
which have almost everywhere marked 
the histoiy of higher education in 
America. Hanover College has at a 
comparatively small cost done an 
immense work for Christian education 
in Indiana and the Republic. Upwards 
of four thousand students have been 
educated in whole or in part within 
its walls, many of whom have attained 
high distinction and usefulness in the 
ministry, law, medicine and science. 
It has graduated 544 students in the 
Departments of Science and Arts and 
Theology, and a much larger number 
have completed the Preparatory 
course, and gone out from the lower 
classes. These students are scattered 
throughout the Republic and in many 
foreign lands. 

Space permits the mention of but 
few of the Christian men and women 
who are identified forever with this 
early scheme of education by the 
Church in our State. In this latter 
day it is an honor to be numbered 
among their success >rs. To no man, 
perhaps, do the citizens and Pies- 



202 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



byterians of Indiana owe a larger 
debt of gratitude than to that eminent 
man of God, Dr. John Finley Crowe, 
who for thirty years with heroic 
benevolence, self-denial and fortitude, 
identified his time, talents and inter- 
ests with the cause of education in 
our Church. Judge Williamson Dunn 
is another name illustrious in our 
early history, among the founders of 
Hanover and Wabash Colleges, giving 
first to Hanover and afterwards to 
Wabash the grounds upon which 
they were severally built. Another 
pioneer, Mrs. Mary T. Lapsley, of 
New Albany, has been the most 
munificent benefactor , to this early 
effort, giving over $30,000 — standing 
steadfastly by the College in its dark- 
est days, and securing an imperish- 
able name among the Christian edu- 
cators of the West. Another earnest, 
modest, learned pioneer, the Rev. 
Win, A. Holliday, of Indianapolis, 
left one-third of his estate now consti- 
tuting $20,000 of the permanent 
endowment of the College. Still 
another pioneer, John King, Esq., of 
Madison, after a life of prayerful 
devotion and generous gifts to Han- 
over College, left by will $13,000 
more. Others of smaller means, 
whose names will not be forgotten by 
God or man in the early annals 
of Presbyterian ism in Indiana, have 
added from time to time to the 
resources of the College. 

The most recent considerable 
addition to the means of the College 
has been for the purpose of erecting 



a suitable building as a home for 
students. 

The College is now out of debt 
and is living within its means. But 
it greatly needs additional funds, both 
to afford a proper support to the men 
engaged in its work, and also to 
enlarge its equipment to the scale 
which the times and the opportunity 
demand. 

Kent, Republican township, is in 
section thirty-two, town V north, range 
VI east. Was platted by James 
Blaukinship, April 9th, 1S53, and for- 
merly called Ramsey's Mills post office. 
There are three good stores, two 
churches, a good school-house, a large 
flour mill, two doctors' offices, a black- 
smith shop and post-office. The popu- 
lation is about 350. It is a nice 
clean, tidy-looking little place. It is 
eight miles west from Madison. 

Lancaster, Lancaster township, is 
in section thirty-three, town V north, 
range IX east. Post office, several 
stores, one church, a fine merchant mill 
and school-house. Situated at the con- 
fluence of Big Creek and Middle 
Fork, on the north side of Big Creek. 

College Hill is just across Big 
Creek from Lancaster. Subjoined is a 
sketch of the college formerly located 
there. 

College Hill. — This institution was 
founded in 1850 by Elder Thomas 
Cravens and son, John G. Cravens. It 
was called an Elentherean college. 

It was located at Lancaster, Lan- 
caster township, Jefferson county. It 
was intended as a school where all 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



•jo;; 



could be educated without regard to 
color, but especially in the interest of 
the negro. 

It was founded by Elder Thomas 
Cravens and his son John G. Cravens. 
They came to Lancaster in 1848 and 
taught school in a church house that 
year. In 1849 they built a boarding 
house. In 1850 they began building 
the college edifice. Their ideas Avere 
so obnoxious to some of the neighbor- 
ing citizen that the church and some 
of the boarding houses were burned, 
and the founders of the institution 
were persecuted in various ways. 
Notwithstanding all these hindrances, 
they persevered, and erected a large 
stone college and a stone boarding- 
house. In 1855 they commenced 
teaching in the new building. 

The organization was: President, 
Elder Thomas Cravens ; John G. 
Cravens, Professor and Business Man- 
ager. Trustees : James Nelson, John 
H. Tibbets, Lyman Hoyt, David 
Hughes and Lemuel Record. 

After some mouths they had from 
seventy-five to eighty students and 
boarders, about equally divided as to 
color. It was in its prime from 1857 
to 1860, and has gradually dwindled 
away until the school ceased to exist 
and the building now belongs to the 
township, and is used as a public 
school building. 

North Madison, Madison township. 
Section twenty-seven, town IV north, 
range X east. It was platted by 
Robert J. Elvin, AVni. H. Branham, 
and David Branham, October 27th. 



1846. It has a post-office, several 
store3, a Baptist, Methodist and Cath- 
olic church, a fine public and high 
school building, and a large number 
of railroad buildings. Its population 
is 1,000. It is located at the head of 
the inclined plane of the railroad, one 
and three-quarters' miles from Madison. 
Wirt, Madisou township, is in sec- 
tion seven, town IV north, range X 
east, was laid out by John W. Parsons 
and James Burns, July 18th, 1837. 
There is a store, blacksmith shop and 
post office here. Population of about 
fifty. There is a Baptist church and 
a school-house in the town. There 
are two resident physicians. 



COL. JOHN PAUL was the fourth 
child and second son of Michael Paul 
and Ann Parker, who were married at 
Germantown about the year 1751 or 
1752. Michael Paul was a native of 
Holland. The time and place of his 
birth is unknown, as is also the date 
of his emigration to this country, and 
the fact as to whether he came alone, 
or with others of his father's family ; 
however, it is known that he had two 
brothers who lived at the same place 
— Germantown, Penu. He left Ger- 
mantown in the year of 1766 or 1777, 
and weut to Redstone, Old Fort, now 
Brownsville, Penn. From there he 
went to what is now West Virginia, 
and from there, in 1781, to Hardin 
county, Kentucky, where he died in 
1801. 

Ann Parker was born in German- 



204 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



town, Perm., in the year 1724. She 
belonged to the order of the Dunkards. 
She was a cousin to Rev. Samuel 
Davis, D. D., a noted Presbyterian 
preacher of that day, and president of 
one of the early theological schools of 
Pennsylvania or New Jersey (perhaps 
of Princeton.) She' died in Hardin 
county, Ky., in June, 1813, at the age 
of 89. They were the parents of 
seven children. 

John, the subject of this sketch, 
being the fourth. He was born in 
Germantown, Penn., November 12th, 
1758, and died June 6th, 1830, in Madi- 
son, Ind. He went with his father to 
Brownsville and to Virginia, and after- 
wards to Kentucky. 

In the year of 1778, he went with 
the expedition of Gen. Geo. Rogers 
Clark in the campaign against the 
Indians in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. 
The expedition went by boats from 
Louisville, Ky., to Kaskaskia (now) 
Illinois. When they debarked at Kas- 
kaskia, the soldiers had to wade for a 
great distance in water up to the 
armpits, carrying their guns and pow- 
der horns above their heads to keep 
them dry, before reaching the fort. 
In 1794, he was married to Miss Sarah 
Thomberry Grover, at Danville, Ky. 
She Avas born in or near Baltimore, 
Md., March 21st, 1775, and went to 
Kentucky with her parents somewhere 
in the decade of 1780. They had four 
children, Mary Berry, the oldest, dying 
quite young. 

In 1809, Col. Paid left Xenia and 
came to the Indiana Territory, lauding 



with his family at the point where 
Madison now stands, on October 6th. 
Previous to this, he had gone to the 
"Vendue" of public lands at Vin- 
cennes, where he bought the land upon 
which New Albany now stands. 
Upon his trip home from that sale he 
stopped at his purchase to fix a home, 
but concluding that it w T as an 
unhealthy locality, he prospected along 
the river for a more healthy situation. 
He decided upon the present site of 
Madison as being best suited to his 
wishes, and went home to Ohio to await 
the opening of the sales at Jefferson- 
ville where this land was to be sold. 
In the spring of 1809, he went to the 
sale and bought the land, and returned 
home and arranged for the immediate 
removal of his family to this place, 
where he afterwards lived till his 
death. 

Col. Paul was a man full of the milk 
of human kindness. His benefactions 
in the way of property for public uses 
are seen all along the pathway of his 
life. At Xenia, Ohio, lie gave the site 
for the court house. In Madison, the 
ground for the old graveyard, on Third 
street; the site for Wesley Chapel 
Church, now the opera house. In Rip- 
ley county, Indiana, the ground for 
the graveyard in Versailles, and ground 
for the Academy. He was a practical 
surveyor, and a very good judge of the 
quality of land; as is proven by the 
fact that a great many tracts of the 
best land in this county and Ripley 
were bought by him from the United 
States government. 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



205 



He was a man endowed by nature 
with all of the elements of a leader 
amongst men, and he was one. In 
this day and generation he would have 
been called an athlete on account of 
his strength, activity, and powers of 
endurance. 

He was tall, of a fine attractive 
physiijue ; he had a commanding 
appearance. Kind hearted, he was 
gentle in manner to all, tender to 
those in distress ; magnanimous, he 
was generous to a fault, always a 
friend to the poor and helpless, and 
ready to lift up and help forward 
young men. He was beloved by his 
friends, and respected by all men who 
knew him, even by his enemies, — for, 
like all men of positive character, he 
had them. He was an energetic busi- 
ness man, and engaged in farming, 
milling and real estate business. He 
was the first representative in the 
Territorial Assembly from this part 
of Clark county, and was a member 
of the Legislature after this county 
was organized. He was elected as 
Senator from Switzerland and Jeffer- 
son counties to the first Legislature of 
the State of Indiana, which convened 
at Corydon, Monday, November 4th, 
1816. He was called to the chair of 
the Senate as President pro tempore, 
and was the first presiding officer of 
the State. 

He was the first Clerk and Recorder 
of this county, which offices he held 
for many years. 

Col. Paul was the first clerk of 
Greene county T , Ohio, and laid out the 



town of Xenia in that county. He 
also named Jefferson county and Mad- 
ison town. 

Col. John Vawter, in a letter written 
in 1850, says of Col. Paul: "He was 
one of George Rogers Clarke's men in 
the expedition against the British 
posts at Detroit, Mich., and Kaskaskia, 
111. He was at the capture of Vin- 
cennes in 1779, February 24th." 

At the time he located in this 
county/, his family consisted of him- 
self and his wife, Miss Ruth Grover, a 
niece of his wife who made her home 
with them, and three children : The 
eldest, Ann Parker, was born March 
18th, 1799, in Harding county, Ky., 
John P., who was born in Greene 
county, Ohio, December 23d, 1800, and 
Sarah G., who was born March 21st 
1802, in Greene county, Ohio. 

Ann Parker was married May 19th, 
1816, to "William Hendricks. From 
this union were born nine children. 
She died September 12th, 1887, in the 
89th year of her age. John Peter 
Paul was a graduate of Washington 
College, and became a surveyor. He 
was married to Miss Eliza Meek. He 
died in September, 1835, in Clark 
county, in the thirty-fifth y T ear of his 
age. Sarah G. Paul was married 
three times ; her first husband was 
Dr. Robert Cravens, who died leaving 
one son, Judge John R. Cravens (who 
still resides here in Madison) ; her 
second husband was Dr. Samuel M. 
Goode, who died leaving one son dow 
living here in the city, and known as 
Dr. Goode. Her third husband was 



.'06 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



B. C. Stevenson, a Methodist preacher. 
She died in September 14th, 1877, 
aged — . Mrs. Paul, the mother of 
the family, died 3fay 8th, 1866, in the 
92nd year of her age. 

Col. Paul and his wife and daughter, 
Mrs. Stevenson, are all buried in the 
old graveyard on Third street, in the 
city of Madison. 



GOV. WILLIAM HENDRICKS, 
L. L. D., was born in Ligonier Valley, 
Westmoreland county, Penn., Nov. 
1 2th, 1782. His parents were Abraham 
and Ann (Jamison) Hendricks. He 
was brought up on a farm, and edu- 
cated himself, laboring; at different 
occupations in order to make the 
money for his support during his 
school and college life. 

Among other labors, he was a hand 
in a powder mill or factory for one 
year. When he was fitted by his 
studies for the calling, he taught 
s hool, and finally by means made by 
this occupation, finished his course at 
college at Cannonsburgh, Pa., in the 
year 1810. After graduating he came 
west to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he 
studied law in the office of Mr. Corry, 
teaching school in order to support 
himself for the bar. He remained in 
Cincinnati till the year 1812, when he 
came to Madison where he settled, and 
lived all of the remainder of his life, 
excepting two years which he spent 
at Corydon, while he was Governor of 
the State. In the records of the 
common pleas court of Jefferson 



county, Indian Territory, July 5th, 
1813, is this entry : "William Hend- 
ricks presented to the court license 
as counsellor and attorney at law, 
and thereupon took the oath required 
by the laws of the territory. 

In connection with Wm. Cameron, 
he established a printing office and 
published a paper called the Western 
Eagle, the first issue of which was 
dated Madison, Indiana Territory, 
May 26th, 1813. It was the second 
paper printed in the State, the West- 
ern Sun being the first — published at 
Vincennes. He sold his interest to 
Cameron in 1815. 

In the spring of 1813 he was made 
Secretary of the Territorial Legisla 
ture, at Vincennes, which was then 
the seat of government. "The Legis- 
lature of Indiana Territory was not 
convened in the year 1812; but on 
the 18th of December in that year, 
General John Gibson, the Secretary 
and acting Governor of the Territory, 
issued a proclamation, in which he 
required the Territorial legislature to 
meet at Vincennes, on the 1st of Feb- 
ruary, 1813." (Dillon's History of 
Indiana, page 517.) 

In the summer of 1814 he was 
elected as a member of the Territorial 
Legislature. 

In June, 1816 he was appointed 
Secretary of the Convention to form a 
State Constitution. This convention 
met at Corydon, the seat of govern- 
ment for the State, on the 10th day of 
June, and adjourned on the 29th of 
the same month, having completed 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



207 



their work, aud made the first Consti- 
tution for the State of Indiana. 

In August, 1816, he was elected as 
the first and sole Representative to 
Congress from the State, and served 
three successive terms, until 1822, 
when he was elected Governor. He 
removed to Corydon (then the seat of 
government) in the fall of 1822, and 
lived there until the spring of 1825. 
The trip was made from Madison to 
Jeffersonville, in a flat boat, in which 
was carried all of his household furni- 
ture and goods, besides the horses, 
on which the rest of the journey, from 
Jeffersonville to Corydon, was made. 
There were three other families on the 
flat boat, (or broad horns as they were 
then called) Mr. Samuel Merrill, and 
family, and Mr. Douglass and family, 
and a Mr. Vigus and family. The 
last two were printers. Douglass 
went to Indianapolis, and Vigus after- 
wards to Logansport. 

During the last winter of his term 
as Governor, he was elected to the 
U. S. Senate, and resigned his position 
as Governor, in order to take his seat 
in the Senate on the 4th of March, 
1825. He was re-elected to the U. S. 
Senate in 1830-31, and served alto- 
gether twelve years in that body. 

He made the journey to the capital, 
usually, on horseback, as far as Ligo- 
nier Valley, Pennsylvania, thence to 
Washington by stages. On one of 
these journeys, his wife accompanied 
him on horseback, riding the entire 
distance from their home in Madison, 
Indiana, to the city of Washington. 



These horseback journeys occupied 
from two to three week's time, depend- 
ing upon the condition of the roads 
and the weather. 

Gov. Hendricks' political opinions 
were truly Democratic. He was never 
elected to any position as a partisan, 
and never gave a strictly partisan 
vote, but voted for those measures 
which, in his belief, were best for his 
country and his constituents. When 
he ran for Governor he had no oppo- 
nent. No other man in the history of 
the State has been so honored. 

In 1840 he was one of the State 
electors on the Van Buren ticket ; 
and it was during this campaign that 
he contracted bronchitis, from which 
he suffered all of his subsequent life. 
This was his last political campaign, 
as the condition of his throat prevent- 
ed public speaking, and lie was after- 
wards engaged only in his personal 
affairs. May 19th, 1816, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Ann P. Paul, eldest 
daughter of Col. John Paul, of Madi- 
son. (See Col. Paul's sketch in this 
book). Gov. Hendricks and wife 
were the parents of nine children: 
William, who died an infant, Sarah 
A. ; John A., who was killed at the 
battle of Pea Ridge, Ark. ; Josiah G.; 
AY. P. Paul— died Dec. 17th, 1885; 
Thomas, who died December, 1863, 
from effects of a wound received at 
Icaria, La.; Alary, who died an infant, 
aud Ellen C. Sarah Ann and W. P. 
are now (1889) living in Madison, 
Ind.; J. Grover is living in Wisconsin, 
and Ellen C. in Springfield, Mo. 



208 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



On the 16th day of May, 1850, he 
died at the house on his farm, where 
he had gone that morning, as was his 
custom to superintend the construc- 
tion of a burial vault. He climbed 
the hill on foot, and the exertion 
brought on a paroxysm of heart 
trouble, which he had been subject to 
for some years previous, from which 
he died that night at 11 o'clock. 

Gov. Hendricks was a man of com- 
manding appearance ; six feet in height, 
handsome in face and figure ; he was of 
a ruddy complexion with black hair 
and blue eyes. He was easy in man- 
ners, of a kind and genial disposition. 
He was a man who attracted the atten- 
tion of all, and won the warm friend- 
ship of many. He was brought up in 
the Presbyterian faith in religion and 
early united with that church, and 
lived a consistent, earnest Christian 
life. 

The literary degrees of A. B., in 
1810, A. M. and L. L. D. were con- 
ferred upon him by Washington Col- 
lege, Pa. 

William Wesley Woollen, in his bio- 
graphical and historical sketches of 
early Indiana, says of Gov. Hendricks : 

"* * * * * Thus it will be 
seen that for twenty- one years — from 
1816 to 1837 — he served without 
intermission the people of Indiaua in 
the three highest offices within their 
gift." 

" Men who found empires should 
not be forgotten. They plant the tree 
of civil liberty, and water its roots, 
while those who come after them but 



trim its branches to preserve its sym- 
metry. If they plant carelessly and 
in poor soil the tree will have but a 
sickly growth. That the men who 
planted Indiana in the wilderness 
sixty-seven years ago, planted wisely 
and well is evidenced by its wonderful 
growth. * * * *" 

" William Hendricks had as much to 
do with laying the foundations of this 
great State and commencing its super- 
structure as any other man, excepting 
Jonathan Jennings only, and yet how 
few there are who know he ever lived." 

****** I n the contest 
for fame there is sharp competition, 
and those only win who have endur- 
ance and mettle. A number of edu- 
cated and talented young men came to 
Indiana in quest of fortune, and had 
William Hendricks been a dolt or a lag- 
gard he would have been distanced in 
the race. But he was neither. He 
was talented and energetic, and 
he won. * * * *" 

"He made the first revision of the 
laws of the State and had it printed 
on his own press. The Legislature 
offered to pay him for this work, but 
he declined all pecuniary compensa- 
tion. It then passed a resolution of 
thanks, the only return for his labor 
he would take." 

"The Indiana Gazetteer of 1850 
thus speaks of him : 

" 'Governor Hendricks was for many 
years by far the most popular man in 
the State. He had bf en its sole Rep- 
resentative in Congress for six years, 
elected on each occasion by large 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



209 



majorities, and no member of that 
body, probably, was more attentive to 
the interests of the State he repre- 
sented, or more industrious in arrang. 
ing all the private or local business 
entrusted to him. He left no letter 
unanswered ; no public office or docu. 
ment did he fail to visit or examine on 
request; with personal manners very 
engaging, he long retained his popu- 
larity.' " 

" Governor Hendricks was of a fam- 
ily that occupies a front place in the 
history of Indiana. There is probably 
no other one iu the State that has 
exerted so wide an influence upon its 
politics and legislation as his. His 
eldest son, John Abraham, was cap. 
tain in the Mexican war, and a lieuten- 
ant-colonel in the war of the rebellion. 
He was killed in the battle of Pea 
Ridge, while in command of his regi- 
ment. Another son, Thomas, was 
killed in the late war, during Gen. 
Banks' campaign up Red river. 
A brother and a nephew sat in the 
State Senate, and another nephew, 
Hon. Thos. A. Hendricks, has received 
the highest honors his State could con- 
fer upon him." 

Since the above was written, by Mr. 
AVoollen, Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks 
was elected to the Vice-Presidency of 
the United States, and has gone to the 
grave. He was also United States 
Senator from Indiana, and Commis- 
sioner of Pensions. 



JAMES F. D. LANIER was born 



in the county of Beaufort in the State 
of North Carolina, November 22d,l 800. 
His father was Alexander Chalmers 
Lanier, and his mother's maiden name 
was Sarah Chalmers. His first pa'er- 
nal ancestor ia this country was Thomas 
Lanier, a Huguenot of Bordeaux, 
France, who fled from the religious 
persecutions, about the middle of the 
seventeenth century, going first to 
England and afterwards to this- 
country, and settling in North Caro- 
lina. 

Soon after the birth of the subject 
of this sketch, his father removed to 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, and in 
1807 he removed to Eaton, Ohio, 
where the childhood of Mr. Lanier 
was spent. In 1817 his father removed 
to Madison, Indiana, where he died in 
1820, leaving a widow and one son. 

Mr. Lanier's earl}' education was of 
a limited character, both as to time 
and extent of studies. About eighteen 
months in Eaton at a common school, 
and in 1815-16, about a year and a 
half at an academy at Newport, Ken- 
tucky, and about the same length of 
time after he came to Madison, at a 
private school, comprises it. 

At Eaton he was employed in a 
store of general character, and there 
got the foundation of his business edu- 
cation. In 1819 he commenced the 
>t udy of law in the office of Alexander 
A. Meek, and finished his legal studies 
by a course at the Transylvania Law 
School in Kentucky, graduating in 
1823. He commenced the practice of 
law in Madison, practicing in the 



210 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



southeastern district of Indiana, which 
comprised a number of counties. 

In 1824 he was appointed Associate 
Clerk of the House of Representatives 
of the State Legislature, and continued 
in that position till 1837, when he was 
made principal clerk of that bod} r . 
His salary as clerk was $3.50 per day. 
In 1833 he went into the Madison 
Branch of the State Bank, which was 
chartered in that year, and took a 
prominent share in the management 
of it. He was made Pension Agent 
for a portion of the Western States in 
1837. 

In 1849, he removed to New York 
City, for the purpose of engaging 
more largely in railroad operations, 
forming a copartnership with Mr. R. 
H. Winslow in the business of nes;otia- 
tion of railroad securities and a gen- 
eral banking business. He continued 
in this business in New York till his 
death in August, 1881. 

In 1819, he was married to Miss 
Elizabeth Gardiner, of Kentucky, by 
whom he had eight children, of whom 
six are now living: Elizabeth G., 
Washington City, widow of Gen. Wm. 
M. Dunn ; Brasilia D., wife of Judge 
John R. Cravens, Madison, Ind.; 
Alexander C, of Madison, Ind., the 
eldest; Margaret Pangelly, Morris- 
town, N. J.; Mrs. Mary Stone, New 
York City, and Mr. Charles Lanier, of 
New York City. 

He was married a second time in 
1 S49 to Miss McClure, of Chambers- 
burg, Pa., by which marriage he had 
one daughter, Katie, who is a widow- 



residing at Lennox, Mass., and one 
son who died young. His widow 
survives him and lives at Lennox. 



CHRISTOPHER HARRISON 
was a man of strange habits and life. 
Burn at the town of Cambridge, Dor- 
chester Co., Maryland, of wealthy par- 
entage, in the year 1775, he migra- 
ted to Indiana Territory in 1808. He 
led a solitary, secluded life for some 
years, avoiding all society, occupying 
himself entirely with hunting, and his 
books. Disappointment in a love 
affair was understood to have been the 
cause of his course of life at this time. 
He seems to have been attracted by 
the beauty of Fair Prospect Point, for 
we find him settled there probably as 
early as 1808. He remained there un- 
til about 1815, when he sold his land 
to George Logan. [See Logan's sketch 
before]. 

In the records of the Common Pleas 
Court of the date of Thursday, Oct. 
22d, 1812, we find the following 
entry: "Gen. Christopher Harrison 
took the place of Williamson Dunn as 
Judge of the Common Pleas Court." 
A previous entry of the same court 
shows that General Christopher Har- 
rison was acting as one of the grand 
jurors of the court. He seems to have 
given up the secluded life he had been 
living at this time, for we notice his 
name on the records of the court up 
to the time he sold out his land. He 
went to Salem from here in 1815, and 
engaged in keeping one of the frontier 



HISTORY OF JEFFEKSON COUNTY. 



211 



stores, dealing in all articles in use at 
that- time by the frontier settler's. 
Jonathan Lyons, one of the proprie- 
tors of the town of Madison, was en- 
gaged in the business with him. 

He still retained some peculiarity 
of character as will be seen by the 
following quotation from a sketch of 
his life in "Biographical and Histori- 
cal Sketches of Early Indiana," by W 
W. Woollen (to whom I am indebted 
for some of my incidents. W. P. H.) ; 

"While at Salem, Christopher Har- 
rison lived alone. His dwelling was a 
little brick house of two rooms, one 
of them barely large enough for a bed. 
An old colored woman came each 
morning to tidy up the house and put 
things in order, and, with this excep- 
tion, no one scarcely ever entered his 
door. But the lot upon which it stood 
was often visited. It was fifty feet 
one way by one hundred the other, 
and nearly every foot of it not covered 
by the house was planted in flowers. 
Here the boys and girls of the town 
would come for flowers, and seldom 
did they go away empty handed. The 
master of the house made bouquets and 
gave to them, drew pictures for them, 
and in many other ways sought to 
please and make them happy." 

Mr. Harrison was elected Lieutenant 
Governor of the State of Indiana on 
the first Monday in August in the year 
1816. First Lieut, Governor of the 
State. He resigned his position as 
Lieut. Governor l>ecause the Lesisla- 
ture did not think as he did on a subject 
which has divided the Supreme Courts 



of the State since that time. That is, 
whether a law of the State restricting 
the governor to that office ouly, is a 
tenable and binding one or not. It 
was set aside in this case and in sev- 
eral others, by high handed assump- 
tion and sustained by personal friends 
of Gov. Jennings -who were in the Leg- 
lature. Soon after Gov. Harrison quit 
business and went onto a farm, and a 
few years after returned to the scenes 
of his nativity in Maryland, where he 
died at the age of eighty-eight. 

Lieut. Gov. Harrison was a gentle- 
man of culture and education, and well 
fitted for any position to which he aspir- 
ed, but he lacked in suavity of manner 
and tact ; qualities very necessary in 
the make up of a successful politician. 



CAPT. ISAAC CHAMBERS.— 
Capt. Chambers was born in Melton 
county, Kentucky, May 28th, 1795, 
and was raised on a farm. His edu- 
cation was quite limited. He was in 
the war of 1812-15, and was at the 
1 tattle of New Orleans. After the 
battle he walked to his home in Ken- 
tucky and raised a crop there; and 
then came to Indiana and entered a 
tract of land in Jefferson county in the 
fall of 1815. He built him a cabin 
and then returned to Kentucky. In 
the year following he removed his 
family to his land in (what is now) 
Monroe township, Jefferson county, 
Indiana. He was a man who was 
respected by his neighbors and by the 
citizens of the whole county. He was 



212 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



a good citizen, honorable, honest and 
upright in all his dealings with his 
fellow men. 

In 1840 he was elected as a member 
of the State Legislature from this 
county. He was a captain in the State 
militia. 

In his youth he flat-boated on the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Upon 
his return home from one of his trips 
to New Orleans, he was taken sick, 
and stopped behind the other men who 
were traveling with him, as they sup- 
posed to die. Fortunately he fell into 
the hands of an old Spanish woman, 
who understood his case and cured 
him so quickly that he, by taking a 
short route, was enabled to overtake 
his comrades before they got home. 
When he approached their camp they 
supposed that it .was his ghost and 
were much frightened, but finally he 
was able to prove to them that it was 
himself and no ghost, and they jour- 
neyed home to Kentucky together. 
The old woman could not understand 
his language, but knew how to treat 
the malarial diseases of the country, 
which was much better for him. 

Capt. Chambers lived on the place 
that he entered in 1815 until his death, 
which occurred in 1865. 



JUDGE WILLIAMSON DUNN 
was a man whose name was connected 
very intimately with much of the 
early history of this country. He came 
to the county in the year 1809, and 
settled on a farm on which a part of 



the town of Hanover now stands. 
Here he lived for the greater portion 
of his remaining life. 

Williamson Dunn was appointed as 
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 
for the county of Jefferson, Indiana 
territory, which place he held until 
April, 1813. At this time he was 
commissioned as captain of a company 
of rangers, which had been enlisted in 
this county and in Kentucky, near 
here. 

Judge Dunn was Associate Judge 
of the Circuit Court of Jefferson 
county in 1814, and for some years 
after that date. 

In May, 1820, Judge Dunn was 
commissioned Register of the Land 
Office, for Terre Haute district. The 
land office was afterwards removed to 
Crawfordsville and Judge Dunn was 
re-appointed to the position of Register. 
He and others purchased the land on 
which Crawfordsville was laid out, 
and he donated the land upon which 
Wabash College was built. He also 
gave land for the establishment of a 
college at Hanover. In 1829 he 
returned to Hanover and resided there 
the rest of his life. In 1832 he w r as a 
candidate for the State Senate, but was 
defeated ; but was chosen as Senator 
in 1837, to fill the vacancy caused by 
the resignation of Lieut. Gov. David 
Hillis. In 1843 he was again nomi- 
nated but was defeated by a division 
in his party, caused by Shadrach Wil- 
ber, who was also a Whig, running as 
an independent candidate for the same 
office — the State Senate — and Jesse 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



213 



D. Bright, a Democrat, was elected- 
In 1846 Judge Dunn was elected as 
Probate Judge of the county, and was 
re-elected and held the office at the 
time that the court was abolished 
under the new Constitution. 

Judge Dunn was born Dec. 25th, 
1781, near Danville, Ky. He was the 
third son of Samuel Dunn, a native of 
Ireland. The family were Presby- 
terian in their belief. In September, 
1806, he was married to Miss Miriam 
Wilson, of Garrard county, Ky. They 
raised a family of eleven children — 
seven boys and four girls. The family 
have been scattered over the country 
and the most of them are dead. There 
are only four of them now living. (Jan. 



Judge Dunn joined the Presbyterian 
church at about the age of thirty-five, 
and was an earnest Christian the bal- 
ance of his life. For over thirty years 
he was a ruling elder in the church. 
He was a man of fine character and 
sterling integrity ; a man who always 
had the courage to act upon his con- 
victions, no matter how unpopular 
they might be. He was a man of good 
judgment; rather slow in forming con- 
clusions, but once formed in his mind 
and convinced 'of their righteousness, 
he was a hero in their defense. His 
record during life, in all of the positions 
which he was called upon to fill, was 
good and perfectly clean. His wife 
died in October, 1837, and he was 
remarried in November, 1839, to Mary 
Fleming, who survived him. 

Judge Dunn died Nov. 11th, 1854, 



from the effects of a sunstroke in the 
month of September previous. 



JOHN HENRY WAGNER — 

Mr. Wagner was born in Franklin 
county, Penn. The exact date of his 
birth is not known, as his parents 
died when he was quite young, and 
he was bound out till he was of age. 
The custom in those days was to 
bind out orphan boys till twenty-one 
years of age, and girls till eighteen. 

If there ever had been any record 
of his father's family it was either 
lost or destroyed. He learned the 
blacksmith's trade. He married in 
Pennsylvania, Mary J. Hoffman, who 
was also an orphan atfd a bond- 
girl. In some way they were 
informed that there was only 
twenty-one days' difference in their 
birth. Mr. Warner and wife were 
both of German parentage. They 
kept a tavern in Chambersburg, Penn. 
They came to this county May 23d, 
in the year 1808, and landed at about 
where now is the foot of Jefferson 
street. They floated down the river 
in an old-time flat boat called a broad- 
horns. When they arrived at this 
point, they determined to settle here, 
and so removed from their boat, the 
lumber of which was used for flooring 
of their cabin. Their cabin (the first 
one built in the town) stood at where 
is now the north-east corner of Mul- 
berry and First streets, on a high 
bank which has since been cut away, 
the second bank or rise from the 



214 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



river. Having bis tools with him he 
set up a shop, and so far as is now 
known was the first iron worker in 
the settlement. Previous to his 
coming, the settlers had gone over the 
river into Kentucky to have their 
blacksmith work done. This con- 
sisted chiefly in making axes, hoes 
and other edge tools, bells for horses 
and cattle, and all articles of hard- 
ware, belonging to their department 
of work, besides a great deal of other 
work which is out of the line of the 
blacksmith of. the present day. Mr. 
Wagner and wife raised a family of 
four boys and three girls. 

They remained in Madison for many 
years, when they removed to a farm 
on the Michigan road, four miles from 
town, and from thence to Jennings 
county, when they, returned to Jef- 
ferson county, where they died. Mr. 
Wagner died May 25th, 1841, and his 
wife died August 13th, in the same 
year. They were supposed to have 
been about eighty years old at the 
time of their death. 



THOMAS WISE— Was bom in 

Maryland on the eastern shore in 
1793. His parents emigrated to Ken- 
tucky when he was only two years 
of age. His father died soon after- 
wards, leaving five children, three 
boys and' two girls. In 1800 his 
mother came to Trimble county, 
where the family remained. Thomas 
came to Indiana first on the day of 
the first sale of town lots in Madison, 



but returned to his mother's, where 
he remained till a few days after 
the Pigeon Roost massacre, which 
occurred on September 3d, 1812, 
about sunset. Having heard of the 
massacre, young Wise and a compan- 
ion went down to see the place. The 
sight so fired his young blood that he 
joined the "Rangers" and went out 
on the " Delaware campaign, " as it 
was called. The company was mus- 
tered into the service April 13th, 
1813. After the year had expired — 
of his enlistment — he came back to 
Jefferson county and made it his 
home. He was a farmer and lived on 
the land which he entered in 1814, 
till he died. He was a member of 
the Board of County Commissioners 
of this county for twenty-one years 
and was as well known probably as 
any man in the county. He was 
respected for his honesty by all who 
knew him. He represented this 
county twice in the Legislature. 



LEWIS DAVIS, one of the original 
proprietors of the town of Madison, 
was a man of middle age when he 
met John Paul at the land sale at 
Jeffersouville in the spring of 1809. 
Where he was born or where he died 
is not known. He left Madison some 
time in 1812 or 1813, and went to 
Xenia, Ohio, to reside. Afterwards 
he resided in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 
1817 he was there, as is found by a 
deed conveying his entire remaining 
interest of lands in Madison, Indiana 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



215 



Territory, to Lewis Whiteman, bear- 
ing date of November 24th, 1817. On 
October 8th, 1813, Davis had sold one- 
half of his interest in Madison to Mr. 
Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati, he then 
being a resident of Greene county, 
Ohio. 



JONATHAN LYONS, the third 
partner in the original town of. Madi- 
son, came down in a flat-boat in the 
spring of 1809 m search of a place of 
abode. He landed his boat near to 
the cabin of Wm. Hall, in what is now 
called Fulton, on the eastern limit of 
Madison, and after prospecting around 
the country a few days, and being 
pleased with the lay of the land, he 
bought out Hall's claim and left his 
family here in Hall's cabin and went 
to Jeff ersonvi lie, where he found that 
John Paul had purchased the site of 
Madison. He then entered the land 
on the claim which he had bought of 
Hall and other pieces of land, and 
finally became one-third owner with 
Paul and Davis of the Madison tract. 
He returned here and lived for some 
years, and built a number of houses in 
the place. The first was on the bank 
between the old Ross tan-yard and the 
river, where he lived for some time. 

In 1815 he removed to Salem, Ind., 
where he died quite an old man, and 
where his descendants are to this day. 
He there engaged in merchandise with 
Christopher Harrison (see sketch of). 



WILLIAM CHAMBERS, SR— 



The subject of this sketch was the 
oldest son of Alexander Chambers, 
who was the son of David Chambers 
who emigrated to America from 
England during King William's Avar, 
about the year 1689 or 1691. David 
Chambers at that time was a mere 
youth, and settled with his father, 
Samuel Chambers, in Rockbridge 
county, Virginia. 

In 1756, Alexander, the father of 
William Chambers, was born, and in 
the war of the revolution was the 
only survivor of three brothers ; the 
other two, Samuel and David, losing 
their lives in the struggle for liberty 
from the British crown. After the 
close of the revolution, Alexander 
removed with his mother to Ruther- 
ford county, North Carolina, where, in 
1789, he married Ann Monroe, an 
aunt of the Rev. Wm. Y. Monroe, who 
at one time was County Treasurer of 
Jefferson county. 

In 1791, the oldest son, William, 
was born, and in 1799 removed with his 
father to near Boonesboro, Ky. Here 
they resided till 1806 when, with about 
three other families, Alexander 
removed to the Wabash country, near 
toVmcennes, where they resided about 
two years, when Chambers, with his 
family, removed back to Kentucky, 
and remained there one year; then he 
removed his family to what is now 
known as Kent, in Jefferson county, 
Indiana. At this place Alexander and 
his son William, now a young man of 
eighteen years of age, erected a fort, 
or, as it was then called, a blockhouse. 



'-'16 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



This was in the year 1809. This was 
the point of defense against the In- 
dians of the various tribes who roamed 
through the wilderness. 

In the war of 1812, William 
Chambers was a soldier in Capt. Wil. 
liamson Dunn's company of Rangers. 
Just before the battle of Tippecanoe, 
Dunn's company was ordered to join 
General Harrison's army, and started 
to do so, but when near where 
Columbus, Ind., now stand*, Col. Mc- 
Farland countermanded the order and 
sent the Rangers under Dunn back to 
the settlements, as reports were sent 
them of threatened attacks by the 
Indians. William Chambers was one 
of a detachment of twenty-five men 
that went to the " Pigeon Roost " 
massacre-ground, the day after the 
massacre, and assisted in burying the 
bodies of the twenty-three persons 
Avho were butchered by the, Indians. 
After peace, William Chambers mar- 
ried Sarah Blankinship in the year 
1816. The license issued to him beina: 
the first one recorded in the county. 
From this marriage, one child, James 
B., was born in 1825, who is still liv- 
ing near the site of his father's first 
settlement. In 1825 his wife died, and 
the next year he married Catherine 
Blankinship, a sister of his first wife. 
Nine children were the fruit of this 
marriage, all of whom are dead, except 
one son, J. G. Chambers, of the firm 
of Branham & Chambers, furniture 
dealers in Madison, Ind., and one 
daughter, Mrs. Le Roue, of Evansville, 
Ind. 



Mr. William Chambers was a mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church, at White 
River, which was organized at the fort 
in June, 1811, where they held their 
services of worship for a number of 
years. His membership extended 
over a period of time of more than 
sixty years ; for more than fifty years 
he was a deacon in the church. 

In 1823, when returning from a trip 
to New Orleans, on the steamboat 
"Old Tennessee," the boat sank on the 
night of February 9th, in the middle 
of the Mississippi river, near Natchez. 
He saved his life by swimming 
ashore, leaving all the money he had — 
which was gold — tied around the ban- 
nister of the boat. William Cham- 
bers died July 16th, 1879, at the age 
of seventy-eight years. His father 
died in 1857, at the extreme age of 
one hundred and one years, one month 
and fifteen days. 

Sketch furnished by J. G. Cham- 
bers, of Madison, Ind. 



WILLIAM MCKEE DUNN, 

Judge Advocate General U. S. A. 
— Mr. Dunn was born at South 
Hanover, Jefferson county, Indiana 
Territory, December 12th, 1814. His 
parents were Judge Williamson Dunn 
and Miriam Wilson. See Judge 
Dunn's sketch in this volume. 

He was the fifth child and the 
fourth son of his parents, and inher- 
ited from them a robust frame and 
vigorous constitution. These were 
developed and strengthened by work 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



217 



upon the farm and general out-of- 
door exercise, in which he spent 
his childhood and youth. He had a 
genial, cheery disposit ; on, and enjoyed 
good health during the greater por- 
tion of his life. Having these advan- 
tages, he was well fitted for the life of 
toil through which he passed, and 
was enabled to b ar up till very near 
the end in full vigor of both mind and 
body. 

He used to laugh at the recollec- 
tions connected with his first school- 
days in the log school-house at 
Hanover, and the rough times at the 
school, relating incidents that were 
full of mirth to the man, but had been 
of sore distress to the boy. 

He attended the State University at 
Bloomington, Ind., where he received 
the degree of A. B. in the year 
1832. In the year of 1835, he 
received the degree of A. M. from 
Yale, Bloomington and Hanover 
Colleges. He was principal of the 
Preparatory Department of Hanover 
College from 1833 to 1835. Post 
graduate studies in science, Yale 
College, in 1835 ; professor of mathe- 
matics at Hanover College, 1886-37. 
He was a member of the Indiana 
Legislature in the session of 1 848-49. 
He studied law 1837-39, and was 
admitted to practice at the bar at 
Lexington, Scott county, Indiana, in 
1839. He located at New Albany, 
Indiana, in the practice of his profes- 
sion, and remained there for three 
years, removing to Madison, Indiana, 
in the fall of 1842, where he resided 



until 1864, when he removed to Wash- 
ington city, D. C, where he lived 
until his death, which occurred July 
24th, 1887. 

At Madison he engaged iu the 
practice of his profession, first in part- 
nership with Michael G. Bright, and 
afterwards with A. W. Hendricks. 

In 1849 he was the Whig candi- 
date for Congress in this district, but 
was defeated by Cyrus L. Dunham. 
In 1850 he was elected as a member 
of the Constitutional Convention from 
Jefferson county. In 1858 he was 
elected as member of Congress from 
this District to the 38th Congress, 
serving from 1858 to 1860. In the 
campaign of 1860 he was re-elected to 
Congress, and in 1862 he was defeat- 
ed -for that place. At the breaking 
out of the rebellion he was offered a 
Colonelcy by Gov. Morton, and an 
appointment as Brigadier-General by 
President Lmcoln. He declined both 
of these, preferring to finish his term 
in Congress. At the close of his term 
in Congress, he was a] (pointed, in 
1863, as Judge Advocate General of 
the Department of Missouri, head- 
quarters at St. Louis. In 1864 he was 
appointed Assistant Judge Advocate 
General of the Army of the United 
States, headquarters at Washington 
city. At the death of Gen. Holt, he 
was made Judge Advocate General of 
the United States Army, in 1876. He 
was retired in 1881. In 1877 he was 
given the degree of L. L. D. by Han- 
over College. 

He was a man full of honors from 



218 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



his fellow-men, and deserving of theni. 

In the fall of 1841, he was married 
in Madison, Indiana, to Miss Elizabeth 
G. Lanier, eldest daughter of J. F. D. 
Lanier. (See his sketch). They were 
the parents of seven children, four of 
whom are still living. Major Win. M. 
Dunn, of U. S. Army, Mrs. Fannie 
McKee, of Washington city, Lanier 
Dunn, farmer, of Virginia, and Mr. 
George Dunn, lawyer, of Denver, Col" 
orado. 

His widow still survives him, living 
in Washington city, D. C. 

Mr. W. W. Woollen, of Indianap- 
olis, is engaged in writing a full his- 
tory of him which will he published 
in the near future. 



COL. MICHAEL C. GARBER— 

The late Mic' ael Christian Garber, was 
of German and Scotch-Irish ancestry. 
He was born in Augusta county 
Virginia, in 1813. His grandfather, 
Michael Garber, was the inventor of the 
first machine to make cut nails. When 
a youth Mr. Garber went to Pennsyl- 
vania, where he engaged successfully 
in merchandising, canal and railroad 
building. In 18-43 he removed to the 
West, and finally located in Madison 
in 1849." He purchased the Madison 
Courier of S. F. Covington, and con- 
tinued its sole or principal proprietor 
until his death. Mr. Garber had be- 
come convinced that slavery was a 
mistake for all parties concerned by 
his residence in Pennsylvania, hence 
his sympathies as an editor, when he 



took control of the Courier were not 
as strongly pro-slavery as those of 
Hon. Jesse D. Bright and his wing of 
the Indiana Democracy. With this as 
a basis of disagreement the com- 
bative and independent spirits 
of Garber and Bright were not 
Ions; in unison. The result was Bright 
had Garber read out of the Demo- 
cratic party, and the bold and aggres- 
sive editor went further and further 
in his opposition to the fugitive slave 
law and advocacy of free soil until 
he became one of the Indiana leaders 
of the movement that culminated in 
the organization of the Republican 
party. He was the chairman of the 
party's first State Central Committee 
and was one of the draughtsmen of 
its first State platform. When the 
war broke out Mr. Garber was com- 
missioned a brigadier quartermaster 
with the rank of Captain. He was 
promoted to Brevet-Major for gallantry 
in the battle of Mill Springs, Ivy, in 
1862, and subsequently was promoted 
to be Colonel for conspicuous efficiency 
in the Red River campaign of Gen. N. 
P. Banks. He was afterwards quar- 
termaster of the Army of the Tennes- 
see, and was attached to Gen. W. T. 
Sherman's staff, as Quarterinaster-in- 
the-Field of the great Army of the 
West in its march from Savannah, Ga., 
to Washington, D. C. After the war 
Col. Garber was retained in the ser- 
vice for over a year and sold vast 
quantities of government stores, ships 
and other property, in the Southern 
States. Declining a commission in 



HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



219 



the regular army he returned home in 
1866 and resumed editorial control of 
the Courier. He was recognized as a 
great force in Indiana journalism and 
loved and honored his occupation. In 
1875 he was appointed postmaster at 
Madison, and was stricken -with hem- 
orrhage of the brain April 2d, 1881, 
while standing at his desk in the 
office. His death occurred five days 
subsequent. Col. Garber was of tall, 



stalwart form, and of genial," prepos- 
sessing appearance. He was charac- 
terized by patience, industry, courage 
and pertinacity. Few men' have ex- 
erted a more wholesome influence, so 
far as their careers extended, than he. 
His family life was^particularly happy. 
He was married in 1837 to Miss 
Ellinor Schell, of ;Schellsburg, Penn. ? 
who with three daughters £and two 
sons survived him. 




JENNINGS C0HNTY. 



(By W. H. Peerin, Esq.) 



JENNINGS COUNTY lies in the 
southern part of Indiana. It 
Avas organized in 1816, and named 
for Jonathan Jennings, the first Gov- 
ernor of Indiana, after it was admitted 
into the Union as a State. It is 
bounded on the north by Bartholomew 
and Decatur counties, on the east by 
Ripley, on the south by Jefferson 
and Scott, and on the west by Jackson 
and Bartholomew. It contains 375 
scpiare miles, and by the census of 
1880 it had 16,453 population. The 
surface bordering the streams is bro- 
ken, while rich alluvial valleys, and 
high table-lands or "flats" form the 
water-shed between the streams. The 
ground is well drained by Big Creek, 
which washes the county on the south- 
west; Big and Little Graham, uniting 
below San Jacinto ; the north or west 
fork of the Muscatatuck, which unites 
with the South Fork at Old Vernon ; 
Sand Creek, rising in Decatur county, 
flowing through the western part of 
this county, with its various branches, 
Rock, Nettle, Wyalusing, Rat Tail, 
Bear and other small tributaries, mak- 
ing one of the main feeders of the 



White river; Coffee, Six Mile, Tea, 
Ice, Storm, Wolf, etc. 

Heavy timber originally covered the 
county. The timbered lands were of 
two different kinds ; first the "flats," 
which were covered with large and tall 
timber — white oak, beech, gum, soft 
maple, burr oak, hickory, and some 
other varieties, with a thick imder- 
growth in many sections, interwoven 
with native grape-vines. Second, the 
rolling land, where the timber is white 
oak, black oak, beech, sugar tree, lin- 
den, ash, black walnut, white walnut, 
cherry, poplar, with an undergrowth 
on rich bottoms of pawpaw and an 
occasional large sassafras. On the 
bottom lands along the streams, syca- 
more, hackberry, elm and buckeye 
flourish. These forests have, as a 
general thing, been stripped of the best 
timber. The white oak has been 
extensively cut for staves, the upper 
parts of the trees being left to decay 
upon the ground. In some sections 
the native forests remain untouched, 
and from these may be formed some 
conception of their vigorous growth. 

A killino; frost which occurred here 



HISTORY OF JENNINGS COUNTY. 



223 



May 8th, 1833, is still vividly remem- 
bered by many of the older people. 
The timber in certain localities was 
mucli injured. On the "west fiats" 
the beech growth was nearly entirely 
killed and in other places the tops of 
the white oaks were killed. Coming 
so late in the season and being so 
severe, all the fruit in this section was 
killed, except a few varieties of late, 
hardy apples. A frost so late in the 
season is rare in this latitude and is 
productive of great harm. It also 
becomes a kind of chronological event 
from which all neighborhood happen- 
ings date. 

Productions. — As a general rule, 
the rolling lands bordering the numer- 
ous streams are more productive than 
the flats. Bordering on Sand Creek, 
North and South Forks of the Musca- 
tatuck, and Big and Little Graham, 
are rich alluvial bottoms yielding 
bounteous corn crops. In fact, all the 
small streams of Coffee Creek have 
more or less of such lands along their 
borders. The principal productions are 
corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat and 
hay. The following are the crop 
statistics, according to the census of 
1880: Com, 651,119 bushels; wheat, 
159,358 bushels; oats, 67,904 bushels; 
buckwheat, 1,280 bushels; hay, 9,919 
tons; Irish potatoes, 34,611 bushels; 
value of orchard products, $26, 11 7. 
A considerable area is in pasture and 
large numbers of mules, horses and 
cattle are raised for the Cincinnati and 
other markets. Large numbers of 
hogs are fattened for the various 



markets. The same statistics (cen- 
sus of 1880) show the following: 
Horses, 4,816 head; cattle, 12,456; 
hogs, 22,273; sheep, 9,354; wool, 
53,436 pounds. The disease known 
as " hog cholera," is sometimes quite 
prevalent and the most practical 
farmers attribute the disease to para- 
sites which find lodgment in the 
intestines of the hog, and fin-dly 
develop themselves into worms, which 
destroys its health and terminates in 
death. 

Fruit culture is becoming more and 
more extensive every year and the 
soil proves that it is a good fruit region. 
The usual varieties of- summer and 
winter apples do well; occasionally, 
cherries and pears. Peaches are not 
ex tensivelv grown. Wild blackberries 
-row in profusion, and are quite a 
source of income at some points, also 
wild grapes. Strawberries are success- 
fully cultivated in certain localities. 

The most valuable minerals of this 
county are building stone, limestone 
for lime, brick and tile clay. The con- 
tinuous beds of North Vernon blue 
limestone are very valuable and extend 
over a large area of the county. The 
amount of this stone quarried for the 
Cincinnati Southern railroad bridge, 
over the Ohio river, besides a great 
many other shipments which are con- 
stantly being made from the various 
quarries, has given employment to a 
large number of hands within the 
county. " The layers of blue lime- 
stone," says Mr. W. W. Borden, "will 
alone, in the course of time, bring an 



224 



HISTORY OF JENNINGS COUNTY. 



immense revenue, while immediately 
below are the white limestone layers 
which afford good material for white 
quick-lime. * * Below the 

white limestone are the Niagara rocks, 
which are noted for making good lime 
and for building and flagging purposes. 
Good (ocherous) clay, suitable for red 
brick is found convenient to all the 
large towns. Sand for all ordinary 
purposes is to be found along all the 
streams throughout the county." 

Few are aware that gold exists in 
Indiana, but it does in almost every 
part of it. It nowhere exists, how- 
ever, in sufficient quantities to pay for 
working it. It was fouud in greater 
quantity in the bed of the south fork 
of the Muscatatuck river than any- 
where else, in the black sand washed 
down from the glacial drift of the 
uplands, and at one time the excite, 
nient occasioned by its discovery was 
very great. 

Settlements. — Jennings County was 
settled principally from the Southern 
States — most of the early settlers com- 
ing from Virginia, North Carolina and 
Tennessee, with a number of families 
from Kentucky. They were of that 
hardy class whose trials and hardships 
were as nothing compared to the long- 
ing desire to possess a home of their 
own. They had come from States 
where the bane of slavery rendered 
the poor man's lot a hard and disagree- 
able one. Hence, to obtain a home in 
the distant West, where slavery would 
never disturb the peace and tranquil- 
ity of their settlements was the dream 



of their life, and when the end was 
accomplished they would not have 
been willing to exchange their little 
unpretending home for the slave-own- 
er's acres and slaves. They did not 
come in great rushing crowds as emi- 
grants now go West, on railroad trains, 
but they come on foot, in ox-wagons, 
on horseback and, in fact, any way 
they could get here. But without 
following them in all the hardships 
and vicissitudes of their settlement, 
we will leave them and their descend- 
ants to the pleasures and enjoyments 
their courage and perseverance have 
won them. 

County Organization. — J e n n i n g s 
County was organized in 1816. Fol- 
lowing is the act of the Legislature 
for its formation : 

An act for the formation of a new 
County out of the Counties of Jackson 
and Jefferson, and for other purposes. 

1. — -Be it enacted by the General 
Assembly of the State of Indiana, 
That from and after the first day of 
February next, all that part of the 
counties of Jackson and Jefferson 
which is included in the following 
bounds, shall form and constitute a 
new county (that is to say), beginning 
on the line of the Grouseland Pur- 
chase, at the intersection of the line 
dividing ranges six and seven east ; 
thence south with said line to the line 
dividing townships III and IV north ; 
thence east six miles ; thence north 
six miles ; thence east with another 
township line four miles ; thence north 
two miles ; thence east two miles : 



HISTORY OF JENNINGS COUNTY. 



225 



thence north two miles ; thence east 
two miles; thence north two miles; 
thence east with the line dividing 
townships V and VI north to the 
southeast corner of section thirty-one 
in township VI north, range X east ; 
thence north with the sectional line 
to the Indian boundary line; thence 
westwardly with said line to the place 
of beginning. 

2. — The said new county shall, on 
and after the first day of February 
next, be known and designated by the 
name and style of the county of Jen- 
nings, and it shall enjoy all the rights 
and privilege- and jurisdiction which 
To a separate county does or may 
properly appertain and belong, Pro- 
d always, that all suits, pleas, 
plaints, actions and proceedings which 
may, before the said first clay of Feb- 
ruary next, have been commenced, 
instituted, and pending within the 
now counties of Jackson and Jefferson, 
shall be prosecuted to find judgment 
and effect in the same manner as if 
this act had never been passed, Pro- 
vided also, that the State and county's 
levies and taxes winch are now due 
within the bounds of said new count)', 
shall be collected and paid in the same 

liner and by the same affairs as 
they would have been if the erection 
of said new county had not taken 
ict. 

•">. — Robert Simington and Daniel 
Searles of Jefferson count}', William 
Cranshear of Jackson county, Thomas 
Carr, of Clark county, and Elijah 
Grolay, of Switzerland county, be and 



they are hereby appointed Comniis- 
sioners to designate the plan for the 
permanent seat of justice of Jennings 
county, agreeable to an act entitled, 
"An act for the fixing the seats of jus- 
tice in all new counties hereafter to 
be laid off;" the Commissioners above 
named, or others appointed by the 
proper court, shall convene at the 
house of John Vawter, on the second 
Monday in February next, and then 
to proceed to discharge the duties 
assigned them by law. 

4. The Board of Commissioners of 
said new county, shall within twelve 
months after the permanent seat of 
justice be established, proceed to erect 
the necessary public buildings thereon. 

5. Until suitable accommodations 
can be had, in the opinion of the Cir- 
cuit Court at the seat of justice of said 
new county, all the courts of justice 
shall be holclen at the house of John 
Vawter in said county; after which 
time the Circuit Court and all the 
courts necessary to be held at the coun- 
ty-seat shall be adjourned to the same. 

6. The said new county of Jen- 
nings, be, and the same is hereby at- 
tached to, and shall form a part of the 
third circuit; and the Circuit Courts 
shall be holden in the said County of 
Jennings, three times in each year here- 
after, and shall commence on the first 
Mondays of April, July and Novem- 
ber, and shall sit six days at each term, 
unless the business shall be sooner 
dispatched. 

7. "Whenever the seal of justice 
within the County of Jennings shall 



226 



HISTORY OF JENNINGS COUNTY. 



have been established, the person or 
persons authorized to dispose of, and 
sell the lots at the seat of justice, shall 
reserve ten per centum on the net pro- 
ceeds of the whole sale for the use of 
a county library in said county, which 
sum or sums of money shall be paid 
over to such person or persons as may 
be authorized to receive the same, in 
such manner and in such installments 
as shall be authorized by law. 

Two or three more sections follow 
but are not specially pertinent to the 
formation of the county. The act was 
approved December 27 th, 181<:>, and 
was signed: 

Isaac Blackford, 
Speaker of House of Representatives. 
Christopher Harrison, 

President of the Senate. 
Jonathan Jennings, 

Governor. 

The county was organized under 
the foregoing act, officers elected and 
all the legal machinery set in motion. 
Vernon was finally chosen as the 
county seat, and the public buildings 
erected according to the act of the Leg- 
islature. 

Towns. 

Vernon. — The county seat of Jen- 
nings county, is beautifully situated at 
the junction of the North and South 
forks of the Muscatatuck river, and 
on the Jeft'ersonville, Madison and 
Indianapolis railroad. It is a rather 
dull old town of 616 inhabitants by 
the last census (1880), but has a sound 
and solid foundation from a financial 
and business standpoint. The court 



house is a handsome brick structure, 
with white limestone trimmings, ob- 
tained from the neighboring quarries, 
and was built under the supervision 
of Isaac Hodgson, of Indianapolis. 
There is, and has been, considerable 
manufacturing done in Vernon, among 
which may be mentioned spoke and 
hub factory ; foundry and plow shop ; 
stave and heading factory ; woolen and 
flouring mill ; wagons and buggies ; 
pumps and rakes ; etc., etc., etc. 

North Vernon, the largest and 
most prosperous town in the county, 
is situated at the junction of the 
Louisville division of the Ohio and 
Mississippi railroad, with the main 
line, and the crossing of the Madison 
branch of the J. M. <fc I. road. It had 
a population of 1,842 by the census 
of 1880 and is a brisk business town. 
The manufacturing interests are flour- 
ing mills, furniture and planing mills, 
woolen mills, chair factories, and oth- 
ers of lesser note. The town is well 
supplied with churches and schools ; 
the church denominations being Meth 
odist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Cath- 
olics ; and a large and fine school 
house being located here, with an ex- 
cellent graded school. 

Other villages and hamlets are 
Scipio, situated on the J. M. & I. 
railroad; Queensville is located on the 
same road, and between the latter 
place and North Vernon ; Paris is 
an old town 

" A place for idle eyes and ears, 

A cobwebbed nook of dreams; 
Left by the streams whose waves are years 

The stranded village seems"— 



HISTORY OF JENNINGS COUNTY. 



22 1 



situated on the bluffs of Graham creek; 
Paris Crossing is on the O. <fe M. rail- 
road, and is a live little place ; Com- 
misky, Sherman, and Lovett are loca- 
ted on the O. tfo M., south of North 
Vernon ; Butlersville and Nebraska 
are east of North Vernon on the O. <fe 
M. and do a large mill and lumber 
business ; Zenas is situated on the 
North Fork of the Muscatatuck, in 
Columbia township ; Brewersville is 
situated on Sand Creek, arid Hardiu- 
burg on the O. & M. railroad. These 
are all small places. 

Railroads.. — Jennings county is 
well supplied with railroads and 
North Vernon, its principal town, is 
quite a railroad center. The main 
line of the Ohio <fc Mississippi rail- 
mad crosses the county from east to 
west, and is intersected by the Louis- 
ville division at North Vernon, where 
it is also crossed by the Madison 
division of the J. M. <fe I. These 
roads have been of great benefit to 
the county in moving its surplus 
produce and facilitating trade; also 
of causing a number of small manu- 
facturing enterprises to spring up in 
various sections of the couuty which 
give employment to many people, 
and are the means of distributing 
considerable money in business cir- 
cles. Upon the whole, the county is 
doing well and is in a most prosper- 
ous condition. 



JEPTHA DUDLEY NEW— Was 

born in Vernon, Jennings county, Indi- 



ana, November 28th, A. D. 1830, and 
is the son of Hickman and Smyra Ann 
(Smitha) New. 

Jethro New, the father of Hickman 
New, was a native of Delaware and 
settled early in life in Gallatin county, 
Kentucky, and in 1822 removed with 
his family of twelve children to Jen- 
nings county, Indiana. 

Hickman New, now in his eighty- 
second year, is the youngest and the 
only survivor of the twelve children. 
He' bes;an life as a cabinet-maker, and 
until age interrupted his labors was 
an active minister in the. Christian 
church. He is now well preserved, 
both physically and mentally. Smyra 
Ann New, his wife, died in 1879 at 
the age of seventy years. 

The subject of this sketch was 
reared in the town of Vernon and was 
educated at the Vernon Seminary and 
at Bethany College, an institution 
founded by the celebrated Alexander 
Campbell. After leaving college in 
1850, he read law in the office of 
Lucius Bingham, Esq., at Vernon. 
The first public office held by him 
was that of Mayor of his native town, 
to Avhich he was elected at the a^e of 
twenty-two. In 1862 he was elected 
Commonwealth Attorney for two years, 
when he was elected Common Pleas 
Judge for four years, at the end of 
which term he declined a re-election. 
He then returned to the practice of 
his profession, and continued in the 
same with great success and profit 
until 1874, when he was elected to 
the Kith Congress, as a Democrat 



228 



JENNINGS COUNTY. 



iu a strong Republican district, carry- 
ing it by thirteen hundred majority. 
He was the first and only Democratic 
candidate for Congress who lias ever 
carried Jefferson and Jennings counties. 
In IS 76 he was unanimously renom- 
inated for Congress but declined. In 
1878 he was urged to accept the nom- 
ination, and did so ; and lie was elected 
after the hottest Congressional contest 
ever known in Indiana iu an off year. 
His majority was four hundred and 
ninety-one, although the same counties 
gave the Republican State ticket 
a decisive majority. In the 44th 
Congress he was a member of the 
>] tecial committee, app< anted to investi- 
gate the much talked of real estate 
pool in the District of Columbia, and 
out of which grew the celebrated Hal- 
let -Kill >ourne contempt case, in the 
argument of which Judge New, on the 
floor of the House, represented the 
committee. 

In the same Congress he was one of 
a special committee sent to New 
Orleans to investigate the management 
of the Federal offices there. He was 
also, in the same Congress put upon 
the committee which was sent to Louis- 
iana to inquire into the vote for 
Tilden aud Hayes ; and was, after 
reaching New Orleans, made chair- 
man of a sub-committee sent to investi- 
gate specially the said electionin what 
were called the "bull-dozed parishes." 
Upon the return of the committee to 
Washington, Judge New was selected 
by his Democratic colleagues on the 
committee to deliver one of the 



speeches on the Louisiana election, 
which under the division of time agreed 
on, belonged to the Democratic side 
of the House. 

In the 46th Congress he was made 
a member of the Judiciary Committee 
and of the Committee on Expendi- 
tures in the Department of Justice. 
He was also made chairman of the 
special committee raised to investigate 
charges preferred against Mr. Seward, 
our minister to China. He was also 
on the special committee sent to Cin- 
cinnati to investigate the Congressional 
elections in that city. 

At the close of the 46th Congress 
he resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion and pursued the same actively 
until 1 882, when he was elected Circuit 
Judge. His term as Judge expired 
November, L888. 

Judge New is now one of the five 
Supreme Court Commissioners, ap- 
pointed by the last General Assembly 
of this State. This commission was 
created in aid of the Supreme Judges 
and will continue for four years. He 
has been spoken of prominently for 
Governor. He has been successful in 
the accumulation of property, being one 
of the largest tax-payers of his county. 

His family consists of his wife. 
Sallie (Butler) New, who was a pupil 
of his in a school taught by him after 
leaving college; a daughter, Mary, the 
wife of Dr. William Stemm ; Willard 
New, a very active and promising 
young attorney, located at Vernon; 
and Burt New, now a student at 
Bloomington College, Indiana. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



29 



PIERSON CONKLING— The sub- 
ject, of this sketch, was one of a family 
of nine children, of whom six are liv- 
ing at this writing. At the age of 
ten years his father moved with his 
family to the country, a few miles 
from Cincinnati, and engaged in farm- 
ing with good success until his death. 
And he followed the same occupation 
until 1S65, when he sold his farm, 
and in 1868 came to Indiana and 
engaged in a general merchandise 1 ius- 
iness; first at Nebraska, Indiana, and 
later in 1874 at North Vernon, where 
he still resides. He was married in 
November, 1845, to Miss Abby, 
daughter of the Rev. J. D. Conrey, of 
Butler county, Ohio. She died in 
1 850, leaving two children, James D., 
who is in business at Kentland, Indi- 
ana, and Anna R., who died at the 
age of six years. Mr Conkling was 
married again in 1855 to Miss Sarah 
J. Travis. They had two children, 
Elmer P., (dead) and Frank T., who 
is in business in Greenville, Ohio. 
Mr. Conkling was married again Sep- 
tember 10th, 1872, to his present wife. 
Miss Martha M. Burke, of Bethel, 
Ohio. They have no children. He 
has ever been in active business life, 
and has been blessed with remarkably 
good health, and is one of the most 
progressive business men and enter- 
prising merchants, builders and eon- 
tractors in the county. 



LINCOLN DIXON— A prominent 
young lawyer, North Vernon, Indi- 



ana, was born at Vernon, Jennings 
county, Indiana, February 9th, 1860. 
His fathers native town is Paris, 
same county and State, where he was 
born October 26th, 1826. He was a 
man of prominence in his day. Dur- 
ing the Avar he held the office of 
Provost Marshal, ami was for eight 
years Sheriff of Jennings county. His 
death occurred June 10th, 1869. Lin- 
coln Dixon's mother was a Miss 
Belinda Foster, who was born in Jef- 
ferson county, Indiana, November 
25th, 1826. Lincoln Dixon's early 
schooling; was received at the Jen- 
nino-s Academy at Vernon, and in 
1876 he entered the State University 
at Bloomington, Indiana, and from 
there he graduated with honor in 1880. 
He at once began the study of law, a 
profession for which he was so well 
by nature adapted. He was admitted 
to the bar, began practice and has 
been successful from the start. 

In the House of Representatives, 
session of 1882-83, he was chosen 
Reading Clerk for that body. In 
1884 he was nominated by the Demo- 
cratic party for Prosecuting Attorney 
of his Judicial District, the sixth, 
composed of Jennings, Scott and Rip- 
ley counties, the duties of which office 
he discharged with such great satis- 
faction to his constituents that he was 
renominated in 1886, and elected, and 
again in 1888. In the last election 
the fight between the parties in the 
district was very hot and close, and 
while the Republicans carried the 
District by two. hundred majority, 



230 



JENNINGS COUNTY. 



Mr. Dixon was triumphantly elected 
with a majority of 207. He is an 
honorable young man, a bright law- 
yer and a good speaker, and is making 
a remarkable record. Mr. Dixon was 
married to Miss Kate Storey, of Ver- 
non, October 16th, 1884. 



JOHN D. KIDD— Treasurer of 
Jennings county, is a native of Butler 
county, Ohio, where he was born 
July 23d, 1815. He is a son of Sam- 
uel C. and Sarah M. (Chancey) Kidd, 
natives of Ohio and Maryland. The 
former located in Jennings county in 
1849, on a farm in Sand Creek town- 
ship, where he was quite a prominent 
man in local politics, holding a num- 
ber of township offices at different 
times. He enlisted in Company B. 
(137th) regiment of Indiana Infantry, 
in which he was a corporal. John D. 
was reared on his father's farm and 
received his education in the public 
schools of his neighborhood. 

He enlisted in the army in 1863, 
Co. H. (120th) regiment of Indiana 
Infantry, and was out twenty- five 
months, when he Avas discharged, the 
Avar haA T ing closed. He took part in 
the Atlanta campaign, and Avas in 
the battle of Franklin — the last severe 
battle of the Avar. Since the return 
of peace he has worked at his trade, 
serving occasionally in some town- 
ship office — one time as township 
assessor. He Avas elected county 
treasurer in 1886, on the Republican 
ticket and re-elected in 1888. Mr. 



Kidd was married to Miss Sarah Ja'ne 
Stewart, a daughter of Jonathan 
Stewart, of Jennings county. They 
have fh e children, A*iz : Albion S., 
John C, AA r anel Blanche, Mary Leora 
and George C. 

Mr. Kidd is a member of the G. A. 
R. and of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows. 



JOHN OVERMYER— Lawyer 

and Ex.-Speaker of Indiana House 
of Representatives, was born in Pick- 
away county, Ohio, November 18th, 
1844, and is a son of George and 
Harriet (Camp) Overmyer, natives of 
Ohio, who in 1849 settled on a farm 
in Jackson county Ind. Here John, 
the subject, was reared and educated. 
When sufficiently prepared he entered 
Asbury University (now DePauw) 
in September, 1863, from Avhich he 
graduated in June, 1867. 

During the last year in college he 
took up the study of laAV, and upon 
leaving college he located in Jennings 
county, where in February, 1868 he 
was admitted to the bar to practice 
laAv. He is one of the leading law- 
yers in the county and ranks high in 
his profession. 

From 1871 up to 1875 he had for a 
partner his brother, David Overmyer, 
who in 1882 remoA*ed to Kansas and 
Avas a candidate for Congress in fall 
of 1888. 

In 1868 John Overmyer Avas elected 
to Legislature from Jennings county, 
and Avas chairman of committee on 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



231 



organization of courts. In 1872 and 
1873 he was Reading Clerk in Indiana 
Senate, and in 1875 lie was prin- 
cipal Secretary of said Senate. 

In 1876 he was again elected to the 
Lower House, and in the sessions, 
general and special, of ] 877, was 
chosen Speaker of the House. He 
was elected to Legislature a^-ain in 
1878, but now his party (Republican) 
1 icing in the minority be was defeated, 
though unanimously the nominee of 
his party at both regular and special 
sessions. In 1882 he was made chair- 
man of the Republican State Central 
Committee, and held the position two 
years: in 1888 he was delegate from 
the third district to the National 
Republican Convention and has been 
thoroughly identified with his party, 
although not in accord with the policy 
of opposition to tariff revision and 
reduction. His political creed is "the 
greatest good to the greatest number." 
He believes the world is governed 
too much — that the laws should be 
as simple and direct as possibly con- 
sist -nt with public order. 

He has been a member of the Ex. 
ecutive Republican State Committee 
from 1878 to 1886, except in 1880. 

He is president of the Jennings 
County Bank, organized in 1885, 
He was made its first president and 
has served in that capacity up to the 
present time. The institution is a 

Bank of Discount and Deposit and 
has a capital of $25,000. Frank E. 
Little has been his law partner since 

is 85. 



Mr. Overmyer was married October 
30th, 1870 to Miss Mary F. Sherfey, 
of Greencastle. They have two chil- 
dren, Misses Florence and Isabella. 



JAMES SCHULTHEISS— Was 

born in Gibson county, Indiana, Sep- 
tember 28th, ls42, and is a son 
of John and Catharine (Shaffer) 
Schultheiss, both born in Germany, 
the former near Strasburg, and came 
to America in 1838, locating in Gib- 
son county, Indiana, and the latter 
came to this country with her parents 
about 1840. James, the subject, was 
reared on a farm and educated in the 
common schools of his county. At 
the age of eighteen he entered the 
army under the first call for troops in 
the spring of 1861, for three months. 
He afterward enlisted for "three 
years or during the war," and at the 
end of that time veteranized and 
remained in the service until the 
surrender at Appomattox closed the 
struggle. He was in Conrpany G., 
Sixtieth Infantry, and saw active 
service as long as the war lasted, a 
part of the time on scout duty. He 
was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, 
Stone River, Arkansas Post, Yk-ks- 
burg, and at Appomattox. He was 
in the Red River expedition under 
Gen. Banks. Several times entered 
the enemy's lines as a spy, and was 
successful in obtaining the infor- 
mation sought and of escaping into his 
own lines. Was taken prisoner half- 
a-dozen times or more, but always 



232 



JENNINGS COUNTY. 



managed to make his escape. He 
returned heme at the close of the war 
and settled in Indianapolis, learned 
the carpenter's trade, worked at it 
six or seven years, then floated around 
for a time, living in Knox, Ripley, 
Spencer counties, etc. Finally, he 
settled down in Jennings county, 
where he has since lived, and where 
he owns a farm of seventy acres of 
well improved land. He was married 
in 1866 to Miss Malinda Schmidt, 
born in Strasburg, Germany, and who 
came to America with her parents in 
1856, settling in Indianapolis. Mr. 
and Mrs. Schultheiss have six chil- 
dren, viz: Amelia, August, Man', Peter, 
Louis and George. Mr. Schultheiss 
is a member of Cox Post G. A. R., 
No. 209, Indianapolis. 



HON. GREENE L. SMITH.— 

The subject of this sketch, Hon. 
Greene L. Smith, was born in Meigs 
county, Ohio, on the Ohio river, near 
Pomeroy, September 6th, 1848. He 
was the son of Harrison and Eliza 
L. Smith -- nee Alexander — both 
natives of Ohio. His grand-parents 
on both sides were Virginians. His 
great-grandfather, Conrad Smith was, 
a soldier in the army of Virginia in 
the colonial days under Gov. Dun- 
more, and afterwards served for seven 
years in the army of the revolution 
under Gen. Washington, being pres- 
ent at the surrender of Cornwallis at 
Yorktown. His father was a steam- 
boat man on the Western and South- 



ern rivers. He was educated at 
Franklin College, Ind., where he 
took a two vears' course ; but his 
education was more practical than 
scientific, accpiired chiefly from per- 
sonal observation. He began the 
study of law at Pomeroy, Ohio, in 
1865, but his course was intermitted 
by school teaching, so that he was 
not admitted to the bar of the Com- 
mon Pleas Court of Jennings county, 
Ind., until 1867, having left Ohio 
and settled in Indiana after he com- 
menced the study of law. He followed 
the law as a profession in Jennings 
county until 1884, when he was 
elected by the Democratic party as 
State Senator for the counties of 
Jennings and Jackson. At the ses- 
sion of the Indiana Senate for 1885- 
86, he was chairman of the committee 
on Enrolled Bills, and also a member 
of both the Judiciary and Committee 
on Banking. At the close of the ses- 
sion of 18S5, he was nominated for 
President of the Senate by the 
Democratic caucus over Senators Weir 
and Sellers, and at the session of 1887- 
88, made the most notable contest 
known in the political history of 
Indiana for Lieutenaut-Governor and 
President of the Senate, against Col. 
R. S. Robinson, Republican, who 
claimed to have been elected by the 
people. Mr. Smith triumphed in this 
contest, thus securing the election of 
Hon. David Turpie to the Senate of the 
United States. In 1888, Mr. Smith 
was a candidate for the Democratic 
nomination for Attorney-General, but 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



233 



was defeated by reason of the late 
hour in the canvass at which he came 
out. In January, 1879, he was united 
in marriage to Miss Ida J. Shellen- 
1 M'iger, of North Vernon, and two chil- 
dren — Florence and David Turpie — 



bless the union. In the notable political 
campaign- of 1888 for the Presidency, 
Hon. Greene L. Smith made an effect- 
ive canvass of Indiana for the re-elec- 
tion of Mr. Cleveland. Mr. Smith is 
a member of the Knights of Pythias. 




SOOTT C0HNTY. 



(By W. H. Permit, Esq.) 



SCOTT is a small county, and lies 
in the southeastern part of the 
State, some eighty miles east of south 
from Indianapolis. It is bounded on the 
north by Jackson, Jennings and Jeffer- 
son counties, east by Jefferson, south 
by Clark and west by Washington and 
Jackson. It contains 213 square miles 
and by the census of 1880 had 8,343 
inhabitants. While it has not stood 
still for the last third of a century 
its increase of population has been 
slow. In I860 the county had 7,303 
inhabitants; in 1870 it had 7,873, an 
increase of 570 over 1860, while the 
decade from 1870 to 1880 increased 
the population only 470, or in two 
decades from 1860 to 1880, 1,040 
increase. 

The surface of the county is very 
irregular, and affords a variety of 
scenery. The north and north-western 
and central parts are very flat, as about 
Scottsburg, Austin, and especially in 
Johnson township ; here the drainage 
is poor, excepting in the immediate 
vicinity of Big Creek, and north where 
the land is slightly rolling. The east- 
ern part of the county is roll- 



ing, and the southern and south, 
eastern is very much broken by a con 
tinuation of the Knob range of hills 
of Clark county, which Lave an eleva- 
tion of from 300 to 400 feet. From 
the summits of many of these knobs 
are landscape views that would set 
the heait of a painter wild. White 
Oak Point, Rocky Point, Piuey Point 
and many other elevations present 
views that command nearly the entire 
county. Five miles southwest of 
Vienna, on the dividing ridge between 
the headwaters of Silver Creek in 
Clark county, and the waters of Pigeon 
Roost Fork in Scott county, the view 
is very commanding. On suitable 
days when the atmosphere is in a 
favorable condition for the conveyance 
of sound, the whistles of locomotives 
and other noises can be heard for many 
miles ; and the valley through which 
the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indian- 
apolis railroad runs, can be traced on 
a clear day, beneath the overhanging 
mist, to the falls of the Ohio, and to 
the west and north the highest land of 
Jackson and Jennings counties can be 
easily distinguished. The county is 



HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY. 



235 



well drained, except the low flats above 
referred to, by the folowiug streams, 
viz.: Big Creek, and its tributaries; 
the Southern or Brushy Fork of the 
Muscatatuck ; Woods Fork ; Home 
Fork ; Pigeon Roost Fork ; Little and 
Big Ox, and Fourteen Mile Creek — 
the latter stream rising in Jefferson 
county, flowing through the south- 
western part of Scott and through 
Clark to the Ohio river. Big Creek is 
the largest of these streams and rises 
in Ripley county, flows in the direction 
of the Ohio and forms a part of the 
northern and western boundary of the 
county. It has considerable fall and 
a strong current, thus affording a num- 
ber of good mill sites. Flowing over 
a persistent formation of the Niagara 
limestone, it has shifted but little from 
its primitive bed, and hence has but 
little bottom land along this part of 
the stream, but frequent abrupt banks. 
Upon reaching the black slate, how- 
ever, it has rich alluvial bottoms, noted 
for their never-failing crops — especially 
of corn. 

Wood's Fork rises in Jefferson 
county. The lands bordering it are 
very rich and productive. The rich 
bottoms of the Muscatatuck as farm- 
ing lands are scarcely surpassed in the 
State, and are referred t< i by the inhabi- 
tants as a standard of comparison. 
The season of 1874 will long be 
remembered as one of great drouth 
yet the "flats" of Scott county and 
these bottom lands had the heaviest 
crops of corn they had produced for 
vears. Home Fork rises in the south- 



ern part of the county, flows past the 
village of Lexington and joins Wood's 
Fork. Pigeon Roost Creek, Kimber- 
land, Little and Big Ox, all have more 
or less rich and productive bottoms, 
which have some of the good farms of 
the county. 

The knobs in the southern and west- 
ern part of the county, originally so 
barren and bleak, now, so far as 
subjected to cultivation, grow fruit 
very successfully. The timber of this 
knob region is mostly pine, from which 
tar is made in considerable quantities. 
Also chestnut, white and red oak grow 
pretty extensively here. In the valleys 
the timber growth is beech, sugar 
maple, poplar, walnut, sycamore and 
others common in southern Indiana. 

In the. early settlement of the 
county, wild pigeons were more 
plenty than any other of the feathered 
tribe. Pigeon Roost Creek received 
its name from the vast numbers of 
these birds which in early times 
sought this broken region as a 
favorite roosting place, particularly 
in the winter season. Their favor- 
ite food, the beech nut, was found 
within a radius of fifty or sixty 
miles in almost endless profusion. 
Old settlers whose recollection 
extends back fifty years, say that 
thev have seen the ground about 
this pigeon roost covered to the depth 
of several inches with their drop- 
pings, and that often in the fall of 
the year they could be seen there 
in countless numbers and covering 
many square miles of territory. 



236 



HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY. 



With the Pigeon Roost is con- 
nected a sad and melancholy incident, 
which for many years threw a gloom 
over all the settlements of southern 
Indiana. The Pigeon Roost mas- 
sacre, though long remembered by 
the early settlers with a shudder of 
horror, is now fast fading from the 
minds of men. The best account 
probably that has been preserved of 
the sad affair is found in Dillon's 
History of Indiana. It is as follows: 

Within the present limits of Scott 
county, there was in LSI 2, a place 
that was called the " Pigeon Roost 
Settlement." This settlement, which 
was founded by a few families in 
1809, was confined to about a square 
mile of land and it was separated 
from all other settlements by a 
distance of live or six miles. In the 
afternoon of the 3d of September, 
1812, Jeremiah Payne and a man 
whose name was Coffmin, who were 
hunting for " bee-trees " in the woods 
about two miles north of the Pigeon 
Roost settlements, were surprised and 
killed by a party of Indians. This 
party of Indians, which consisted of 
ten or twelve warriors nearly all of 
whom were Shawanese, then attacked 
the Pigeon Roost settlement about 
sunset on the evening of the 3d of 
September ; and in the space of 
about one hour killed one man, five 
women and sixteen children. The 
bodies of some of these victims of 
savage warfare were burned in the 
fires which consumed the cabins in 
which the murders were perpetrated. 



The persons who were massacred at 
this settlement were Henry Collings 
and his wife ; Mrs. Payne, wife of 
Jeremiah Payne, and eight of her 
children ; Mrs. Richard Collings and 
seven of her children ; Mi\s. John 
Morris and her only child, and Mrs. 
Morris, the mother of John Morris. 
Mrs. Jane Biggs, with her three small 
children, escaped from the settlement, 
eluded the vigilance of the Indians, 
and about an hour before daylight on 
the next morning arrived at the 
house of her brother, Zebulun Col- 
lings, who lived about six miles from 
the scene of carnage. William Col- 
lings, who had passed the age of sixty 
yeai's, defended his house for the 
space of three-quarters of an hour 
against the attack of the Indians. In 
this defense he was assisted by Capt. 
John Norris. There were two chil- 
dren in the house. As soon as it 
began to grow dark Mr. Collings and 
Capt. Norris escaped with the two 
children (John Collings and Lydia 
Collings) from the house, eluded the 
pursuit of the Indians, and on the 
morning of the next day reached the 
house of Zebulun Collings.. 

After the time of the Pigeon Roost 
massacre many of the settlers on the 
northern and western frontiers of 
Clark, Jefferson, Harrison and Knox 
counties lived in a state of alarm 
until the close of the war in 1815. 
A number of the militia of Clark 
county immediately after the Pigeon 
Roost massacre proceeded to the 
melancholy spot, where they found 



HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY. 



237 



several of the mangled bodies of the 
dead surrounded by the smoking 
ruins of the houses. These remains 
of the murdered persons were brought 
together and buried in one grave, 
Mr. Zebulun Collings, who lived 
within six miles of the Pigeon Roost 
settlement, said : " The manner in 
which I used to work in those perilous 
times, was as follows : On all occasions 
I carried my rifle, tomahawk, and 
butcher-knife, with a loaded pistol in 
my belt. When I went to plow I 
laid my gun on the plowed ground 
and stuck up a stick by it for a mark, 
so that I could get it quick in case it 
was wanted. I had two good does. 
I took one into the house leaving 
the other out. The one outside was 
expected to give the alarm, which 
would cause the jone inside to bark, 
by which I would be awakened, 
having my arms always loaded. I 
left my horses in a stable close to 
the house, having a port-hole, so that 
I could shoot to the stable door. 
During two years. I never went from 
home with any certainty of returning 
— not knowing the minute I might 
receive a ball from an unknown 
hand; but in the midst of all these 
dangers, that God who never sleeps 
nor slumbers has kept me." 

Settlement of tin County. — Scott, 
like most of the counties in southern 
Indiana, accumulated its population 
principally from the Southern States. 
The Pigeon Poost settlement, already 
referred to. was one of the first made 
in the county. After the battle of 



Tippecanoe, and the removal of the 
Indians from this section of the State, 
settlements increased rapidly. Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and 
"N irginia sent large delegations who, 
though from slave-holding States, 
developed iuto good citizens and bitter 
opponents of slavery. These, with a 
few Irish, Scotch and Germans make 
up a large proportion of the popula- 
tion of the county. Mingled with it. 
of course, are a few of the "man 
and brother." When the first of them 
came, whether as "c< mtrabands of war" 
or in an earlier day, is not now known. 
The first, possibly, came by the "under- 
ground railway," or with the earl} 
tiers as '• free niggers," but not being 
deemed worthy of consideration before 
they were entitled to suffrage they 
existed -imply as "hewers of wood 
and drawers of water 1 ' to the Philis- 
tines with whom they sojourned. But 
the time came when "Sambo" was 
a voter and lie at once arose to the 
level of his citizenship and from 
obscurity and disregard he has pas 
into notice and consideration. Candi- 
dates have included him among their 
friends, and shook hands with him 
and li cow-shedded " him, and "stood 
treat " and cajoled and flattered him, 
and tried to induce him to vote fo) 
them (with new two dollar bills), just 
the same ;l s they did his white com- 
peers; and to-day, so far as votes 
count, he is the equal of his white 
neighbor. 

As is common in all newly-settled sec- 
tions of the country, the piom 



HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY. 



of Scott county were generally friendly 
and sociable. It was not uncommon 
f< >r a man to go four or five miles to 
help a new-comer raise his cabin and 
sometimes if he heard of it he went 
without further notice. Log rollings 
were common in the timbered sections, 
and at these neighborly gatherings it 
was thought no harm to have a little 
whisky. The phase of society was 
not perfect in its moral symmetry and 
the Sabbath was as generally a day of 
hunting and fishing as of religious wor- 
ship. This, however, is usually the 
case in a new country and Scott 
county was no exception to the rule. 
But as people came in and settlements 
increased, schools and churches were 
established, society improved and the 
foundation laid for the civilization 
and refinement which have ever been a 
distinguishing characteristic of Scott 
county. 

County Organization. — Scott county 
dates back to 1817 as a municipality. 
The act of the Legislature for its forma- 
tion passed at that session and its 
municipal machinery was at once 
arranged and put in motion. The 
seat of justice was chosen, public 
buildings were erected and the county 
started on the full tide of municipal 
experiment. How successful that 
experiment has been its present 
prosperity is the best proof and 
assurance. 

Scottsburg, the county seat, is situ- 
ated on the main line of the J. M. & 
I. railroad, near the center of the 
county and is a pleasant little city. It 



has a population of 700 according to 
the last census and is a place of con- 
siderable business ; has a good sub- 
stantial court house, a comfortable 
school house, several handsome 
churches and the usual proportion of 
lawyers and doctors. The next largest 
town is Lexington, situated in the 
eastern part of the county, on the 
Loiusville division of the O. & M. rail- 
road, and by the last census had 500 
inhabitants. Austin in the northern 
part of the county, on the J. M. <fc I. 
railroad, is the next largest town in 
point of population and had 325 by 
the last census. Vienna in the southern 
part of the county, — also on the J. 31. 
& I., had 175 inhabitants by the last 
census. Underwood in the southeast- 
ern part, is a place of 100 inhabitants, 
and Alpha in the extreme northern 
part, is a small place — merely a depot 
on the J. M. & I. railroad. 

Railroads. — Scott county has two 
railroads. The main line of the Jeffer- 
sonville, Madison & Indianapolis runs 
almost through the center of the 
county from south to north ; and the 
Louisville division of the Ohio <fc Mis- 
sissippi passes through the eastern part 
of the county. There are several 
stations on these roads within the 
limits of the county which afford the 
people the most ample facilities for 
exporting as well as importing their 
goods, produce and stock. 



WILLIAM B. EVERITT— Was 

born February Nth, 1832, and is a son 



HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY. 



239 



of William D. and Mary C. (Lewellen ) 
Everitt, the latter descended from one 
of the first families who settled at Louis- 
ville, Ky.; the former was a native of 
Virginia and removed to Louisville, 
Ky., soon after the close of the war of 
1812 in which he served as a soldier. 
Subsequently he removed to Scott 
county where he died at the age of 87 
years. 

The subject of this sketch was 
brought up on the farm and educated 
in the common schools. He was 
married in 1853 to Matilda E. Esom, 
whose parents came from Maryland to 
Kentucky at an early day. They 
have eight living children and one 
dead. Six of those living are boys, 
viz : Thomas H., present Sheriff of 
Scott county ; James C, married and 
living at Vienna and in the mercantile 
business ; AVilliam R, at home ; 
Charles H., Oliver N., and Oessa F. 
and Martha F., at home with her 
parents and Bertha Ellen. Mildred A. 
died in 1876. 

Mr. Everitt volunteered in the Fed- 
eral army in August, 1802, and served 
untilJune, 1865, when he was honor- 
ably discharged. He was enrolled as 
Second Lieutenant of Co. L, and 
recruiting officer of the 81st Indiana 
Volunteers. 



THOMAS H. EVERITT— Was born 
in Clark county, Indiana, June 17th, 
1857, and was brought up on a farm 
near Vienna, Scott county. He 
received a common school education. 



Believing in the Scripture charge that 
" it is not good for man to be alone," 
he married at the age of eighteen, Miss 
Mary C. Gray, a native of Scott 
county and a descendant of one of the 
old and prominent families of Ken- 
tucky. They have had eight children 
six of whom are living, viz : W. H, 
aged twelve ; Jesse H, nine ; Lydia, 
seven ; Ida B., five ; Lola A., three ; 
and Elsie B., an infant. Mr. Everitt 
followed farming and engaged exten- 
sively in stock dealing until 188<>, 
when he was elected Sheriff of the 
county which position he still holds. 
He is one of the few Republicans who 
have been elected to office in this 
county the usual Democratic majority 
being over 300. He was elected 
Sheriff by fifty-four majority over 
Wm. Rice, the nominee of the Dem- 
ocratic party. 

Mr. Everitt owns 190 acres of finely 
improved land; also some valuable 
property in Scottsburg. He is prom- 
inent as a Mason and is a leading 
member of the Methodist church. 



BARNET K. GLADDEN— Was 

born in Green county, Pennsylvania, 
September 8th, 1830, and.is a son of 
Elijah and Sarah (Whitlatch) Glad- 
den, the former a native of Pennsvl- 
vania who emigrated to this county 
in 1831 and settled on Hoq; Creek 
three miles from Lexington where he 
died in 1850 ; the latter is a daughter 
of Barnet Whitlatch, a native of 
Harford county. Maryland. Great- 



240 



SCOTT COUNTY. 



grandfather John Kimberlin, from 
Green county, Pennsylvania came 
here in 1805 and settled three miles 
from Lexington where he built the 
first house in that neighborhood, 
and as he was the first settler on the 
little creek it took his name — Kim- 
berlin Creek. 

The subject was reared on a farm 
and has followed farming all his life, 
but has found time to devote to 
politics and has filled several civil 
offices, — was township assessor of 
Lexington township for seven years, 
and in 1886 wac elected County 
Auditor on the Democratic ticket 
which position he now holds. He 
also served some time as postmaster 
and was Alternate in the convention 
that nominated Cleveland and Thur- 
man for the Presidency and Vice- 
Presidency. 

Mr. Gladden was married to Moriah 
Summerville, a daughter of Joseph 
Summerville, of Scott county, a native 
of Licking county, Kentucky, who 
is still living and is 84 years of age. 
They have four children living, viz. : 
Josephine, wife of Arby L. Hardy, 
of New Hampshire ; Sarah C, wife 
of Cyrus Noaks, of Lexington ; Clara, 
and Dan Voorhees, Deputy Audi- 
tor. Harriet M. died in November, 
1884, and was the wife of William 
Blocher. 

Mr. Gladden is a prominent Odd 
Fellow, and has filled the chairs. He 
represented his Lodge in 1880 in the 
Grand Lodge. 



W. E. GREEN, M. D.— A native 
of the town of Tupper's Plains, Meigs 
county, Ohio and was born January 
22d, ' 1851. His father, William 
Green, was born in Oswego, N. Y., in 
1805. He was a farmer in humble 
circumstances and one of the earliest 
settlers in Meigs county, Ohio. 

W. R. Green's early educational 
advantages were meagre, attending 
the common schools in winter and 
workino- on the farm during the sum- 
mer seasons, and so continued until 
he became twenty-one years of age. 
He then attended Tupper's Plains 
Seminary for about two years pursu- 
ing an irregular course under Prof. 
L. C. Crippen, an able instructor of 
Athens, Ohio. 

He began the study of medicine 
immediately on leaving the Seminary 
under the tutelage of Dr. Josephus 
Parsons. He subsequently entered 
the Eclectic Medical Institute at 
Cincinnati, Ohio ; on leaving the Insti- 
tute he returned home and in a short 
time came to Lexington and began 
the practice of his profession. 

He located at Lexington September 
15th, 187<b and has succeeded in 
building up a splendid practice in 
Scott and adjoining counties and is 
regarded as one of the most successful 
physicians in the county. 

He was married to Miss Flora B. 
Paswater July 20th, 1879. She is a 
dauohter of William and Eliza 
Paswater. Her father is a hishlv 
respected farmer, living at Lexington. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



241 



He was born in L818 and one of the 
pioneers of Scott county. 

Dr. Green was initiated into the 
I. 0. 0. F. Lodge at Lexington 
July 22d, 1879, and was the repre- 
sentative of his Lodge in the Grand 
Lodge at Indianapolis in lss4. 



COLUMBUS B. HARROD— Is 

descended from one of the most prom- 
inent families of Kentucky — no less 
distinguished a man than Col. James 
Harrod, the founder of Harrodsburg, 
the oldest town in Kentucky, and for 
whom it was named. 

Wm. Harrod, the grandfather of 
Columbus, Avas the first white child 
bom at the Falls of the Ohio, now 
Louisville, and was a lineal descendant 
of Col. Harrod, the pioneer. William 
B. Oard, the maternal* grandfather, 
was an early settler in Scott county, 
and came from Virginia. 

Columbus B., the subject of this 
sketch, is a son of Wm. G. aud Sarah 
Ann (Oard) Harrod, and was born 
April 13th, 1849, in Jennings town- 
ship Scott county. His father lives 
in Scottsburg, and is a prominent 
farmer of the county. His grand- 
mother was Elizabeth New, a sister of 
John B. New, a prominent Christian 
minister of this State. Being an only 
son, Columbus received a liberal edu- 
cation. He was brought up on the 
farm, and received his early training 
in the common schools of the neigh- 
borhood. Afterward he attended 
the Blue River Academy, a Quaker 



institution in Washington county. 
He read law for a time and then 
entered the State University at Bloom- 
ington. After an irregular literary 
course, he entered the law department, 
from which he graduated in March, 
L 8 7-2. He was admitted to the bar at 
Bloomington the same year, and in 
1875 commenced practice at Scotts- 
burg, where he has since resided and 
followed his profession. He is a 
prominent Republican politician, and 
has made several unsuccessful political 
races, owing to his party being in the 
minority. He owns a farm of eighty 
acres of good land in this county. 
Mr. Harrod was married the 31st of 
October, 1881, to Miss Lina BroAvn of 
Jefferson ville. They have three chil- 
dren. He is a man of fine attain- 
ments, a lawyer of more than ordinary 
brilliance, and a polished gentleman 
socially. 



HORATIO S. HAZZARD— La 
native Indianian, and was born in 
Scott county, February 12th, 1839. 
He is a son of Albert and Eliza Ellen 
(Keith) Hazzard, natives of Mary- 
land, and early settlers of that State, 
the latter a daughter of Horatio Keith, 
who came to Scott county in an early 
day. The elder Hazzard was a prom- 
inent farmer, and died when his son 
was 'still cpiite young; Lis wife died 
shortly after. 

Horatio S., the subject of these 
lines, was reared on the farm and 
received a common school education. 



242 



SCOTT COUNTY. 



He followed the profession to which 
he was brought up until the fall of 
1886, when he was elected County 
Treasurer of Scott county on the 
Democratic ticket, an office he now 
holds. He has served four years as 
Justice of the Peace and two years as 
Trustee of Vienna township. 

He is one of the popular and enter- 
prising men of his neighborhood, as 
evinced in the public positions he has 
held. Mr. Hazzard was married in 
1859, to Miss Amanda Ellen Clark, 
born in Scott county, and a daughter 
of James Clark, a native of Virginia, 
and who was a prominent farmer here. 
They have three children: Augusta 
Alice, Martha E., and James A. Wm. 
Hazzard owns one hundred and twen- 
ty-seven acres of fine land adjoining 
Scottsburg, which is highly improved. 
He is a member of the Christian 
church, of the fraternity of the I. O. 
O. F. and of the Knights of Honor. 



LEVI R. JONES— Was born in 
Vienna township in Scott county, Nov. 
28th, 1843, and is a son of William 
and Eliza (Sparks) Jones, the former 
a native of this State and the latter a 
daughter of Hector Sparks, an early 
settler of Kentucky. 

He was brought up on a farm and 
educated in the common schools, and 
in 1866 was married to Miss Sallie M. 
Collins, a daughter of William E. and 
Nancy Collins, natives of Kentucky. 
They have seven children, two boys 
and five girls, viz.: Anna E. married 



Geo. W. Richey, living in this county; 
Sarah E., Emma C, M. Jane, Nancy 
B., Jesse E. and W. Howard. Mr. 
Jones volunteered in the Federal 
army in August, 1862, in Company 
K. Sixty-sixth Indiana Infantry. 

He served faithfully until the close 
of the war, and participated in several 
battles. He was taken prisoner at 
Lexington, Ky., and remained a pris- 
oner for two months. He was with 
Sherman in his march to the sea. 

Mr. Jones is a prosperous farmer, 
owning' 233 acres of excellent land, 
well improved. He does not aspire to 
office, but is content to move on in 
quiet and private life. He and family 
are members of the M. E. church. 



REV. CHARLIE A. MANKER, 

a prominent divine of the Christian 
church, was born in Ohio, a State indig- 
enous of great meu, near Hillsboro, 
Highland county, on the 16th of 
August, 1838. He is a son of Lewis 
and Sarah (Swadley) Manker, natives 
of Pennsylvania and belonging to the 
good old family of Pennsylvania 
Dutch. 

His father was a minister of the 
Gospel. The subject of our sketch 
was brought np in the village where 
he was born, until he was fifteen years 
old, when he went to Cincinnati and 
was apprenticed to a carriage manu- 
facturer, in which he remained for five 
years. He then located at Columbus, 
Indiana, where he worked at his 
trade. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



243 



In 1867 he came to Scott county 
and together with his brother-in-law, 
James W. Allen, engaged in carriage 
manufacturing at Woostertown, this 
county (Scott), which, he continued 
for two years, and then abandoned it 
and engaged in farming. 

In 1880 he was elected Clerk of the 
Circuit Court on the Democratic ticket, 
and in 1884 proved his popularity in 
the county in his re-election to the 
same office. 

In October, 1S70, he was married to 
Miss Mollie E. Allen, of Scott county, 
a daughter of Elijah S. Allen, a prom- 
inent farmer of the county. They 
have three children. He has been a 
minister in the Christian church since 
1870, and preached every Sunday. 
He has charge of the Scottaburer Chris- 
tian Church, the largest in the county 
and through his zeal in the Master's 
work is constantly increasing in 
members. 

In 1861, Mr. Manker enlisted in 
Company K, Fifteenth Indiana In- 
fantry, as a private soldier. He par- 
ticipated in the batth; of Shiloh, and 
soon after was discharged on account 
of physical disability, having been in 
the service four months. 

He is an active member of the 
Masonic Fraternity, Odd Fellows and 
Knights of Pythias. 



Z. C. MATHES— The subject of 
this sketch, was born in Owen county, 
Indiana, May 4th, 1848; removed with 
his parents to Bloomington, Monroe 



county, when ten years of aye, and 
after that removed to Indianapolis, 
where he remained until he was sixteen 
years old, then removed to a farm near 
Bedford, where he followed farming 
until 1860, when he started to learn 
the tinner's trade under D. F. Tilford. 
He staid here until the call of Presi- 
dent Lincoln for volunteers, when he 
enlisted in the 18th Indiana Regiment 
Volunteers, in Capt. Short's company, 
and served to the close of the war. 
He was in all of the battles in which 
his regiment was engaged. When the 
war was over, he came home and 
finished his trade, and was married to 
Miss Elizabeth J. Hinshaw; the result 
of this union was six children, viz.: 
Minnie, James, John, Effie, Arthur and 
Maiy. Minnie died when four years 
old. After marriage, he' engaged in 
his trade and the hardware business, 
at Bedford, Newross and Scottsburg, 
where he now is doing the best busi- 
ness in his line in Scott county. 

His father, James M. Mathes, was 
born in Jefferson county, Ky., July 
8th, 1808 (his ancestors were natives 
of County Amtrim, Ireland); his 
grandfather served in the revolutionary 
war as quartermaster. His father was 
born in Shenandoah Valley, Va. 
.lames M. Mathes was one of the 
pioneer preachers of Indiana. The 
mother of Z. C. Mathes was Sophia 
Glover, and was born January 17th, 
1800, in Virginia; lived in Mt, Ster- 
ling, Ivy., and came to Owen county, 
Indiana, with her parents. She died 
April 20th, 1873. 



244 



SCOTT COUNTY. 



Mrs. Elizabeth J. Mattes, whose 
maiden name was Elizabeth J.. Hin- 
shaw, was born in Martin county, 
Indiana, September 26th, 1S4S, is the 
wife of Z. C. Mathes, of Scottsburg, 
Scott county, Indiana. Her parents 
were John and Elizabeth (White) Hin- 
shaw. Her father was born in North 
Carolina in the year of 1816. "When 
only ten years of age, he came to 
Indiana with his widowed mother, and 
settled for a time in Harrison county, 
on Blue river, staying there some six 
yeais; then he removed to Martin 
county and settled near Indian Springs, 
where he made an improvement 
on government land. He remained 
for four years, when he removed 
four miles east of that place, on 
the east fork of White river, where 
he settled permanently. Here he 
entered tract after tract of land until 
he owned at the time of his death, 
some 700 acres of land. He died at the 
age of forty-six. 

Her mother was named Elizabeth 
White, and was born in Kentucky. 
She died about 1852. 

John and Elizabeth Hinshaw had 
five children, viz. : William H, Arthur 
D., John A v Mary Ann and Elizabeth 
Jane, of whom three are living. Mary 
Ann died when two years old and 
John A. Avas killed at the battle of 
Antietam. John Hinshaw married 
a second time to Mrs. Sallie A. Dilly 
by whom he had one son Adrian, who 
died at the age of seventeen, at Bed- 
ford, Indiana. 



RICHARD W. MONTGOMERY 

—Was bom April 30th, 1838, and is 
a son of William C. and Isabelle 
(Reddenbaugh) Montgomery, the 
former a native of Jefferson county, 
the latter of Bartholomew county, 
this State, and a daughter of Philip 
Reddenbaugh. 

William Montgomery, the grand- 
father of Richard W., came to Penn 
sylvania from Ireland in an early day 
Philip Reddenbaugh, the maternal 
grandfather of subject, emigrated 
from Germany about the time of the 
struggle for independence, and finally 
removed to Bartholomew county 
where he lived as a farmer. He once 
owned the land on which Cohimbus 
stands and which is now worth mil- 
lions. 

The subject of this sketch was 
raised on a farm and received but 
a common school education. He 
engaged in the boot and shoe business, 
following it until 1872, Avhen he was 
elected treasurer of the county, and 
served two terms. Previously he had 
been trustee of Jennings township. 

In 1872 he was married to Mary S. 
Stratton, born March 6th, 1854, and 
a daughter of James H. Stratton, 
born and raised in Jefferson county, 
Indiana, and whose father came from 
Kentucky. Her mother was Sarah 
D. Dryden, a native of Jefferson 
county, and whose mother was born 
in Maryland. 

Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery are the 
parents of five living children, viz: 
Walter H, born July 1st, 1873 ; Clyde 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



245 



S., born August 25th, 1879 ; Leda B., 
born February 6th, 1882; Cleona M., 
born May 19th, 1884; and Ethel F., 
born October 11th, 1886. 

Mr. Montgomery is a prominent 
man in the county and deservedly 
popular. He is an active Mason and 
Odd Fellow, and a consistent member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
He owns three hundred and twelve 
lots in Indianapolis. 



A. NEWT MUNDEN— Is a native 
of Washington county, Indiana, and 
was born November 12th, 1855. He 
is a son of Zachary and Jane 
(Arbuckle) Munden, natives of the 
same county, and a grandson of John 
Munden, a Quaker minister who came 
from Virginia and settled in Wash- 
ington county in a very early day ; 
his maternal grandfather, Thomas 
Arbuckle, was also a Virginian and 
came to Washington county among 
its earliest settlers. The subject was 
reared on the farm and after receiving 
an academical course, he entered 
Bloomington University in 1873. 
Upon reaching the Junior year he 
left, and in 1884 entered DePauw 
University at Greencastle, from which 
he graduated in 1885. He taught 
school in the interval between his 
studies at Blooniington and Green- 
castle. He began the practice of law 
immediately after leaving college, 
Locating in Scottsburg. He is a part- 
ner of Hon. William K. Marshall, of 
Seymour, and the firm is a strong 



one with a large and lucrative prac- 
tice. 

He is and has been prominently 
connected with some of the leading 
educational institutions of the coun- 
try. He was for some time professor 
in the Southern Illinois Normal and 
Business Institute. In 1881 he estab- 
lished at Lexington, Indiana, the 
Normal Collegiate Institute which 
he made an accomplished success, 
having as high as one hundred and 
sixty-three students at a time, and 
over half the counties in the State 
represented as well as four or five 
States. The school is still in a pros- 
perous condition, and runs through- 
out the year, except the summer 
months. 

Mr. Munden was married in 18.76, 
to Miss Addie Sickells, of Jackson 
county, Indiana. He ranks high in 
his profession as a lawyer, and is 
engaged upon the one side or the 
other of nearly every prominent case 
tried in his town. 



ALLEN M. PEELER'S — Grand- 
father emigrated from North Car- 
olina anions the first settlers to 
this Slate, and settled originally 
in Washington county. His father, 
A. M. Peeler, was born in that 
county, and he was born in Clark 
county, November 2d, 1842. His 
mother was Amy < rriswold, a daughter 
of Luman Griswold, a native of New 
Hampshire, who emigrated to Clark 
county in an early day and followed 



246 



SCOTT COUNTY. 



building mills and carpentering. Many 
of the homes of that day as well as 
most of the early mills were monu- 
ments of his industry and ingenuity. 

He accumulated some considerable 
property and owned some twelve 
hundred acres df land in Clark county 
on Muddy Fork. In March, 1862,' 
Mr. A. M. Peeler married Miss Susan 
Alsup, whose parents came to Indiana 
from Virginia when the first named 
State was still a territory. 

They have three children, viz: Hiram 
D., aged twenty-two ; John S., aged 
tAventy-one ; and America, aged seven- 
teen. Mrs. Peeler died in 1874 and 
in 1875 he married Elizabeth Sams, a 
native of Indiana. Their children are 
Hosier, aged twelve and Leumau, aged 
ten. Amy died at the age of one year. 
Mr. A. M. Peeler located in Scottsburg 
in ls7'.> and engaged in the livery 
business, in which he has been suc- 
cessful. 



WILLI AM RICE— Was 1 ,orn in this 
county July 7th, 1838, and i^ a son of 
Giles, born Nov. 9th, 1819, in Scott 
county and Elizabeth (Cline) Rice. 
His grandfather was a native of Mas. 
saehusetts, from whence he removed to 
New York and there married, subse- 
quently in 1818 removing to Madison, 
Indiana, and later to Scott county 
where he resided until his death in 
1833. Elizabeth (Cline) Puce was 
born in Kentucky and married in 1837. 
Her parents removed to Jennings 
county, Indiana, in early times and 



some years later settled in this county 
where the remainder of their lives 
were spent. 

William Rice, the subject of this 
sketch, was married in 1861 to Miss 
Sarah F. Friedley, a daughter of 
William and Sarah (Hall) Friedley, 
the former a native of Kentucky but 
whose parents were Pennsylvanians, 
and the latter a native of Virginia. 
Mr and Mrs. Rice have two children : 
Sadie born in 1868 and Willie F. born 
in 1872. Sadie graduated from 
Moore's Hill College in the summer of 
1888. Mr. Rice is a prominent and 
successful farmer, and owns 300 acres 
of well improved land. He belongs 
to the order of Odd Fellows 
and is a member of the Methodist 
Ejnscopal church. 

Mr. Rice made the race for Sheriff of 
Scott county in 1886 but was defeated. 
He was elected to that office over 
Thomas H. Everitt, Republican candi- 
date, by a handsome majority in 1888. 



GEORGE M. WARMOTH, M. D.— 

Was born in Garrard county, K\ ., < >ct. 
27th, 1837, and is a son of James and 
Margaret (Simpson) Warmoth, natives 
of Kentucky who emigrated to Indi- 
ana aud settled in Scott county about 
the year 1839. He was reared on the 
farm and when fully grown returned 
to Kentucky where he remained some 
time. He took an irregular course at 
South Hanover College, Indiana, 
spending about two years at that insti- 
tution. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



247 



He began reading medicine in 1858 
with Dr. John F. Warmoth in 
Dubuque, Iowa. 

He attended the Medical College at 
Keokuk in 1859, and took one course 
and in 1SG1 entered the Ohio Medical 
College at Cincinnati from which he 
graduated in March 18G2. 

He was appointed assistant surgeon, 
•shortly after, of the Twenty-fifth Ken- 
tucky Infantry, which was consolidated 
later with the Seventeenth Kentucky. 
He was then commissioned by Gov. 
Yates, of Illinois, assistant surgeon of 
the Forty-first Illinois Volunteers, 
serving with this regiment until Jan- 
uary, 1 865, when he was commissioned 
surgeon of the Fifty-third Illinois with 
which he served until the close of the 
war. 

Leaving the service lie located in 
Scott county, link, and commenced 
the practice of his profession which 
he continued until 1867, when he was 
appointed assistant surgeon in the 
regular army. He was post surgeon 
at Fort Cummings, New Mexico, until 
April 1869, when he resigned and 
returned home. In 1S75 he removed 
to Madison county, Ky., and in 1885 
removed back to Scott county, locating 
in Scottsburg where he has since 
practiced his profession. 

He was married in 186V to Miss 
Mahala E. Rice, of Scott county, Ind. 
They have one child, George AY, about 
seventeen years of age. 

Dr. Warmoth owns the Miller 
block, one of the finest blocks in 
Scottsburg. 



JOHN M. WATSON, M. D.— Was 

born in Hamilton county, Ohio, on the 
18th of November, 1837. His father, 
James Watson, was a native of Virginia 
and moved to Ohio more than a century 
ago. He came to Indiana in 1840, 
and settled in Scott county, one and 
a half miles from Scottsburg. He 
was a carpenter by trade, and many of 
the early houses of the county 
were of his handiwork. He served a 
number of years as Justice of the 
Peace, and died in the spring of 1884 
at an advanced age. His wife (the 
mother of subject) was Arabelle 
Pierson, a native of Hamilton county, 
Ohio. 

Dr. Watson, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared on his father's farm, 
and was educated in the common 
schools of the county. After quitting 
school he commenced to read medicine 
at Vienna, in Scott county, with Dr. 
Wm. B: Stage in 1858. He attended 
the lectures at the Kentucky School of 
Medicine, Louisville, in 1858-59, ami 
began the practice of his chosen pro- 
fession at Vienna. 

In 1878, he was graduated from the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
Indianapolis. He located at Scotts- 
burg in 187i'i, where he has since 
resided, and where he enjoys a large 
practice — the largesi by far of any 
physician in the county, and to which 
he devotes his whole attention. He 
was married in 1862 to Miss Sarah E. 
F. Miller, of Clark county. She bore 
him one child, and then died ; and he 



248 



SCOTT COUNTY. 



married a second time to Caroline A. 
Strong in 1865. By her he has six 
children. 

Dr. Watson is a prominent member 



of the I. O. O. F. and of the Knights 
of Honor, and a leading and deservedly 
popular man in the community where 
he lives. 




Washington County. 



(Br John M. Gresiiam.) 



WASHINGTON COUNTY lies 
in the southern part of the 

State of Indiana, and is of rather a 
rough and broken surface. It is 
bounded on the north by Jackson 
county, from which it is separated by 
the Muscatatuck river; on the east by 
Scotl and Clark counties, on the south 
by Harrison and Crawford counties 
and on the west by Orange a nd Law- 
rence. It has about 510 square miles 
and by the census of 1880 it had a 
population of 18,955. Like the 
adjoining counties its surface partakes 
of timber land and "barrens" and is 
underlaid with the cavernous lime- 
stone. The barrens comprise nearly 
an eighth of the entire area of the 
county. They were originally thickly 
matted with wild <'-rass and a kind of 
stunted shrub. The timber comprised 
the different kinds of oak, white and 
black walnut, ash, hickory, beech, elm, 
dogwood, maple, chestnut, sycamore, 
poplar, gum, wild cherry, sassafras, etc., 
etc In its primitive state the county 



possessed some as fine walnut, cherry 
and poplar timber as this section of 
the county can produce. It is stated 
that in 1878 a poplar tree was cut on 
the land of William Brewer, south of 
Salem, that was eight feet in diameter 
across the stump and made six saw- 
Loes each twelve feet Ion";: that it 
took fourteen horses to haul the first 
cut to the mill where it was sawed and 
that the entire tree made 12,000 feet 
of lumber. The bottom lands are 
rich and produce well; the uplands 
are rolling and the different cereals 
grow on them profusely. These lands 
are also well adapted to fruits. The 
county as a whole is one of the finest 
stock-raising counties in the State, the 
large number of running streams of 
pure water adding much to its adapta- 
bility in this branch of industry. lis 
drainage is through the Muscatatuck 
and Him- rivers and Buffalo, 151k, 
Rush, Twin, Cliffy and Bear Creeks. 
In addition to these there are a num- 
ber of smaller streams fed by 



252 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



springs, which flow in every direction 
and afford the best of drainage. 

Settlement. — White people visited 
Washington county as early as 1800, 
but no permanent settlement was made 
until about 18<>7. This settlement was 
made by a German named George 
Brock, who came from Virginia and 
settled in what is now Washington 
township. He was a hunter and 
followed hunting and trapping for a 
livelihood. After spending a season 
here thus engaged he returned for his 
family and the next year (1808) 
brought them out; his sou, George 
Brock, Jr., and two sons-in-law, Adam 
Barnett and Frederick Nei differ accoin. 
panying him. Another early settler 
was Jesse Spurgeon, who came about 
the time of Brock. Judge Goodlove 
Kemp settled north of Salem in 1808 
and in 1809 Henry Dewalt, Roger 
Thompson, William Gordon, Andivw 
Pitts, William Netherton and Ben- 
jamin Brewer. The last named gentle- 
man entered the land upon which 
Salem is located. After the year 1809 
the settlement of the county spread 
rapidly. Among those who came in 
after that time were William Wright; 
James Davis, Andrew Little, Isaac 
Miller, Jacob Miller, John Niediffer, 
Henry Carter, James Young, Martin 
Putoff, Caleb Trueblood and Thomas 
Hodges. The following settlers lo- 



cated between 1812 and 1815 : Wil- 
liam Grace, C. W. Jones, Josiah 
Spurgeon, Isaac Overshiner, Samuel 
Denny, William Spurgeon, Adam 
Cauble, Peter Zink, Jonathan Lyon, 
Matthew Coffin, Lewis Woody, Nathan, 
James and Abel Trueblood, Zachary 
Nixon, Lewis Crow, Mr. Hensley, 
William Pitts, Thomas Pitts, Alex- 
ander Little, Arthur Parr and' John 
Fleenor. 

The first settlement in Posey town- 
ship antedated the first permanent 
settlement in Washington township. 
Thomas Polston came here as early, it 
is said, as 1805. Martin Royse, with 
his sons, John, William, and Martin, 
came the next year. Chas. Bailey 
and Elijah Harriman settled in 1808, 
and John Butler and Benjamin King 
a little later. James McGrew located 
on the creek, about 1811-12, and John 
Chenoweth in the same neighborhood 
about 181 •">. A number of other fam- 
ilies moved in soon after and the 
neighborhood rapidly settled up. 
Other portions of the county were also 
settled, and soon quite a population 
was scattered over it, and the people 
began to look forward to the organ- 
ization of a county of their own. 

< 'mint;/ organized. — Washington 
county enjoys the distinction of hav- 
ing its birth during the war of 1812. 
The following is the act creating it : 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



253 



An act for the formation of a 
new county out of the counties of 
Harrison and Clark : 

Be it enacted by the Legislative 
Council and House of Meprest ntatives, 
and it is hereby < nacted by the author- 
ity of th< same, That from and after 
the seventeenth day of January, 
eighteen hundred and fourteen, all 
that part of the counties of Harrison 
and Clark included within the follow- 
ing hounds, to-wit : ''Beginning at 
Freeman's corner, on the meridian line; 
thence southwardly with said line to 
the intersection of an east and west 
line running through the center of 
township I south ; thence with the 
same eastwardly to the summit of the 
Silver Creek knobs ; thence north- 
eastwardly with the extreme height 
of the same, between tin' waters of 
Silver Creek and the Blue river to the 
line dividing ranges VI and VII east- 
thence with said range line north- 
wardly to the Indian boundary; 
thence with said boundary to the 
place of beginning — shall compose 
one new county called and known 
by the name of Washington. 

Section 2. — And be it further 
enacted, That the county of Washing- 
ton shall enjoy all the rights and 
privileges appertaining to the counties 
heretofore established in the Indiana 
territory; and it shall lie lawful for 



the Coroners, Sheriffs, Constables and 
Collectors of said counties of Harri- 
son and Clark to make distress for all 
taxes, levies and officers' fees remain- 
ing unpaid by the inhabitants within 
the bounds of said new county at the 
time such division shall take place, 
and they shall be accountable for the 
same in like manner as if this act had 
never been passed ; and the courts of 
Harrison and Clark counties shall 
have jurisdiction in all suits, pleas, 
plaints and proceedings which may 
before the aforesaid 17th of January 
next, have been commenced, instituted 
and pending within the present coun- 
ties of Harrison and Clark; shall be 
prosecuted to final judgment and 
effect, issue process and award execu- 
tion thereon. 

Section ;:. — Andht it further~enact- 
<</ by tin authority aforesaid, That 
Joseph Paddox, Peter Mcintosh and 
Ignatius Abel, of Harrison county, 
Marston (I. Clark, and Joseph Bar- 
tholomew, of Clark county, be, and 
they are hereby appointed commis- 
sioners to designate the place for the 
permanent seat of justice for "Wash- 
ington county, agreeable to an act 
entitled. "An act for the fixing of the 
seats of justice in all new counties 
hereafter to be laid off." The com- 
missioners above named, or others 
appointed by the proper court, shall 



254 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUN1Y. 



convene at the house of William 
Lindlay on the Blue river, on the 17th 
clay of January next, and then pro- 
ceed to discharge the duties assigned 
them by law. 

Section 4. — And In it further 
enacted, that the Judges of the Court 
of Common Pleas of the new count v 
aforesaid, shall within six months after 
the permanent seat of justice be estab- 
lished, proceed to erect the necessary 
public buildings thereon. 

Section 5. — And be it further 
enacted, That until suitable accommo- 
dations can be had (in the opinion of 
said court) at the seat of justice of 
said new county, all courts of justice 
for the same shall be holden at the 
house of William Lindlay. This act 
to be in force and take effect from 
and after the 17th day of January, A. 
D. L814. 

James Noble, 
Speaker of tlte House of Representa- 

fir, s. 

James Beggs, 
President if tin Legislative Council. 
Approved December 21st, 1813. 

Tllos. PoSKV. 

The commissioners named in the 
above act met at the house of Wil- 
liam Lindlay, as provided in the act, 
February, 1814, and after investi- 
gating and discussing the merits of the 
different locations bidding for the scat 



of justice, finally purchased 174 acres 
of Benjamin Brewer, where the town 
of Salem now stands, and thus the 
capital of the county was located. 
Isaac Blackford was appointed clerk 
and recorder of the new county, and 
was commissioned January 7th, 1814, 
1 >y the Governor, and power delegated 
to him to swear into office and qualify 
all the civil and military officials of 
the county. Thus the municipal 
machinery was set in motion, and the 
county, started on in its career of suc- 
cessful experiment. 

Townships. 

The first County Board — Judges 
Jonathan Findlay, Moses Hoggett, and 
Simeon Lamb — met at the house of 
William Lindlay, on the 2d of Febru- 
ary, 1814, for the transaction of 
county business. Their first official 
act was to appoint John DePauw 
County Agent on a bond of $5,000. 
After some miscellaneous business, 
they divided the county into town- 
ships as follows: 

Madison Township. Beginning at 
where the line between the first and 
second townships north, crosses the 
meridian line; thence east into the 
second and third range lines; thence 
south to the Harrison county line ; 
thence west to the corner of said 
county ; thence to the beginning. 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



255 



Lost River Township. Beginning 
at the same place ; thence east to the 
line between the second and third 
ranges; thence north to the boundary 
of the county. 

Blue River Township. Beginning 
at the second and third range on the 
south line of this county ; thence north 
on said line to the north line of the 
second township north ; thence east 
with said line to the Clark county line. 

Washington Township. Begin- 
ning at the northeast corner of Blue 
River township; thence north along 
the Clark county line to the main 
branch of the Muscatatuck river; 
thence down the same to White river; 
thence down the same to Lost River 
township. 

Driftwood Township. Beginning 
where Washington township strikes 
the main branch of the Muscatatuck; 
thence with the .Clark county line to 
the bounds of this county ; thence with 
said bounds to the beginning. 

The Courts— The first Court of 
Record, or Circuit Court, as it was 
called, convened on the 2d day of 
February, 1814, at the house of Wil- 
liam Lindlay. It was held by Jona- 
than Lindlay, Moses Hoggett and 
Simeon Lamb, who bore the title of 
Judges, but neither of whom was a 
member of the legal profession. What 
was better perhaps, they were practi- 



cal men of sound, common sense. They 
ordered the sale of town lots to be 
advertised in the newspapers ; selected 
the name Salem, for the seat of jus- 
tice, together with a few other minor 
acts, and adjourned sinedie. Another 
session was held March 3d, by Judges 
Hoggett and Lamb. April 11th, 
another term of the " Circuit Court " 
was held by Judges Lindlay and 
Lamb. At this term the first grand- 
jury was impaneled, as follows: 
George Beck, foreman; Christopher 
Marrs, Amos Thornberg, Edmund 
Hensley, Goodlove Kemp, Andrew 
Housh, Jesse Spurgeon, David Denny, 
Samuel Lindley, Alexander Little, 
Joseph Latta, David Colglazier, James 
Young, W 'illiam Kennedy, Jesse Dur- 
ham, John McPheeters, Thomas Den- 
ny and Amos Wright. The jury 
returned two indictments, viz.: Susan 
Deem for forgery and John Ramsey 
for assault and battery. John F. Ross 
at this term of court was appointed 
Prosecuting Attorney, and Henry 
Hurst, Davis Floyd, Alex. Dunn and 
George F. Pope were sworn as attor- 
neys. Thus were the courts of the 
new county organized, and the legal 
machinery regularly set in motion. 

Court Houses. — The hist court 
house of Washington county is thus 
described by a recent writer : "The 
public buildings in Salem, in 1820 



250 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



were strange looking structures. The 
old court house, called ' The Stilted 
Castle of Justice and Equity,' stood 
upon arches built of brick, rising abi »ve 
the ground to a height of a twelve 
or fifteen-foot story, leaving the whole 
space on the ground floor open, to be 
used for a market-place. But in this 
its ancient architects did not calculate 
well, for the cows, pigs, geese and 
every other stray animal took undis- 
puted possession. Fleas, lice and 
other vermin and filth soon rendered 
it unfit for a market-place and until its 
removal the animals occupied the fort. 
The structure above and resting upon 
the arches was one story and finished 
off for public offices. The approaches 
to this floor at the north and south 
entrances were composed of hewn 
lo^s risina: from the ground to 
the main doors on the second 
floor, thus forming a stairway. 
This strange, old building was torn 
down in 1827 and the erection of a 
better court house commenced, which 
was completed in 1829. Before its 
completion, and when the frame work 
of the cupola was up, a Jackson meet- 
ing was held in town, January 8th, 
1829. Old Amos Coombs was a red- 
hot Jackson man. He climbed up one 
of the corner posts of the cupola, 
stood upright upon the beam and 
shouted only as he could shout : ' Hur- 



rah for Gen. Jackson in the highest 
degree of honor and promotion.' He 
then descended as quietly as he 
ascended. * * * * 

The first jail was 
built of hewn logs, one story high, and 
was torn down a few vears ago, after 
having rendered valuable service as a 
jail, store-room and stable. The sec- 
ond jail, which is now used as a resi. 
deuce, was commenced in 1844 and 
completed in December, 1845, and 
cost $3,456.00. The old stray pen 
was uorth of the first jail. Here all 
quarrels and difficulties were settled. 
It was enclosed with a high board 
fence, the boards set upright and 
close together, so that persons from 
the outside could not see the show in 
the pen. Cock-fights and dog-fights 
often amused the intelligent citizens in 
this old pen, while it was a general 
play-ground for the boys and girls and 
a courting spot for lovers." 

Salem. The town of Salem was 
laid out in 1814. Gen. John DePauw, 
■ is agent < >f the town laid out, advertised 
and sold the lots. The correctness of 
the plat will not be questioned, when 
the manner and mode of laying out 
the town is known; the ground was 
measured with a grape-vine. On the 
14th day of April, the work was 
finished and the plat filed for record. 
The first house on the site of Salem 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



257 



was built by Simeon Lamb, already 

mentioned as one of the judges of the 
courts. The house was as unique as 
its surroundings. It was of long poles 
set up endwise on the ground, and 
was erected on lot No. 83 of the 
original plat. Other houses followed 
in rapid succession. The first brick 
bouse was built on lot 11 by Judge 
Harrison ; the next was built on lot 
80 by Col. Jonathan Lyon. At the 
close of the year 1814, there were 
probably 400 people in the town of 
Salem. They came from Kentucky, 
North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania 
and a few from the New England 
states. 

The first mercantile experiment was 
made by Lamb <fe Mendenhall, and 
their store was of the primitive kind. 
They were followed in regular order 
by Gen. John DePauw, Col. Jonathan 
Lyon, Christopher Harrison, S. & Z. 
Leavensworth, Newcomb A: Crane, 
Hess & Grayson, Booth, Jarvis <fc New- 
by, Coffin and Holland, James Wiley, 
Samuel "White, M. Riley and Nathan 
Kimball. An early firm of Salem 
was that of Malott <fc MePheeters. 
They were enterprising and energetic 
men, and did a large mercantile busi- 
ness for years. One source of their 
popularity was they took in exchange 
for goods everything in the way of 
farm produce that the people had to 



sell. There were no railroads then, 
and no market but Louisville, and as 
a consequence they soon got into flat- 
boating their surplus pr< xluce to New 
Orleans, from whence they brought 
back sugar, coffee and molasses. 

Among the early mechanics were 
D. T. Weir, Jobn Mills, Henry Young, 
Samuel Peck, John G. Henderson, 
William Phelps, Frank Huston, Alex- 
ander Hinkle, Elias Albertson, Thomas 
White, Samuel Wilkerson, Edmund 
Vermilya, Roger Martin, etc. The 
first tavern-keeper, Allen McAllister, 
followed by Lyon <fe Malott and 
Parker A: Hardy. The license tax 
then was $15.1 >0 per year for a tavern, 
and the County Board regulated the 
prices to be charged. The early prices 
were breakfast, dinner and supper, 25 
cents each; whiskey, 12 A cents per 
one-half pint; apple and peach brandy, 
1 8 1 cents per one half-pint ; rum, 
French brandy and wine, 37A cents 
for one-half pint; cider and beer, 12^ 
cents per one-half quart ; porter, per 
bottle or quart, 37A cents ; lodging, 
per night, 12A cents; oats or corn, 12i 
cents per one-half gallon ; horse to hay, 
per night, 25 cents, etc. 

Incorporation. — The State Legisla- 
1 ure passed an Act in 1826, authorizing 
the voters of the town to meet at the 
court house on the first Monday in 
March (1826), and proceed to elect by 



258 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



ballot seven trustees, to be known as 
a "Board of Trustees," whose office 
should expire on the first Monday in 
March, 1827. From some cause the 
provisions of this act was not complied 
with until lS.il. On the 18th of 
January of that year, an election was 
held at the court house, "to decide 
whether they will be incorporated 
or not." The vote was unanimously 
in favor of incorporation and on the 
24th of January, an election 'was 
held at which Foster Nixon, Mieajah 
Newby, John G. Henderson, William 
Baird and Gustavus Clark were elected 
trustees to serve one year. In March, 
1849, the town was re-incorporated and 
the following trustees elected : George 
Atkisson, James J. Brice, James P. 
Banta, Elijah Newland and Harvey 
L. Aston. Another election was held 
in 1853 for a third incorporation but 
there are no records extant of it. In 
June, 1868, still another petition was 
presented for incorporation and on the 
1 5th of the same month. At that time 
there were 278 voters in the town and 
a population of 1,177. On the 13th 
of July following, an election for 
trustees was held, residting as fol- 
lows : First ward — Edwin Telle, Sr.; 
Second ward — George Harris — Third 
ward — William W. Weir ; Fourth 
ward — John Manly ; Fifth ward — 
Henry Streaker. At the same elec- 



tion, A. J. Parker was elected Treas- 
urer; R. L. Mitchell, assessor; E. W. 

Menaugh, Clerk ; Charles G. Chapman, 
Marshal. 

Salem is a handsome town, with 
a number of fine residences for a town 
of its size, and good substantial busi- 
ness houses. Its business men are 
wide-awake and go-aliead, and are 
enterprising and prosperous. In 1880 
it had a population of 1,815. Its 
public buildings are good, its churches 
elegant, a school-house of which the 
people of town and county are proud, 
and an intelligent and enterprising 
population. 

The court house is a model of 
beauty. It is 73 x 90 feet, stone, 
— ashler face finish — built at a cost 
of $60,000. It was constructed in 
1887 and 1888 and designed by 
McDonald Bros., of Louisville, Ky. 
It is one of the most attractive build- 
ings in the State and the arrangement 
of the interior seems to be perfect. 
The house is in the center of the 
public square and will be heated by 
natural gas adjusted in a steam 
heater. 

CAMrBELLSBUEG is the next 
largest town in the county to Salem. 
It is situated in the western part 
of the county on the Louisville, New 
Albany & Chicago railroad. August 
31st, 1849, it was platted by John I. 



THE PRESENT COUNTY OFFICERS 



WAS^IjnQTOJn COUNTY. 



ELI W. MENAUGH, 
ELISHA I). WILLIAMS, 
WILLIAM RUDDER, 
W. S. PERSISE, 
WM. C. McCOSKEY. 
JAMES KENDALL, 



Clerk. 

- Auditor. 
Sheriff. 

Treasurer. 
Surveyor. 

- Coroner. 



COMMISSIONERS : 



WM. T. MONTGOMERY, MICHAEL DENENY, 

PETER MORRIS. 



THE ATTORNEYS: 



A. B. COLLINS, 
JNO. C. LAWLER. 
JOHN A. ZARING, 
SAM. H. MITCHELL, 
JAMES MASTERSON, 
SAM. B. VOYLES, 



D. M. ALSPAUGH, 
ASA ELLIOTT, 
MILT. B. HOTTEL, 
ROBT. B. MITCHELL, 
HARVEY MORRIS, 
WM. H. PAYNTER. 



260 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



Morrison, who named it Buena Vista 
after the Mexican village of that 
name, near which the severest battle 
of the Mexican war was fought, and 
which war was but recently closed. 
After the building of the railroad 
the name was changed to Campbells- 
burg, for Robert Campbell, who made 
an addition to it in 1851. The rail- 
road station and the post office are 
named Campbellsburg, but the town 
is frequently called by its old name 
of Buena Vista. A number of 
additions have been made to the town 
by different parties at different times. 
One of the most important was made 
by James H. McKinney in April, 
1865,, and was considerably larger 
than the original plat. In Septem- 
ber, 1875, a vote was taken to incor- 
porate the town, which resulted in a 
large majority in favor of incorpora- 
tion. January 4th, 1876, an election 
was held for trustees, and the follow- 
ing gentlemen were elected : Chris- 
tian Prow, Jacob Grimes and Samuel 
F. Martin, trustees ; Rufus Mather, 
clerk ; James W. Hubbard, treasurer ; 
and Joseph L. Holmes, assessor. The 
town has a good business, comprising 
the different branches of the mercan- 
tile trade, mechanics, milling, etc. 

Canton, situated a little north of 
north of east of Salem, is a decaying 
village of a once prosperous business. 



It was laid out in 1.S38 by Eli Over- 
man, and the original plat embraced 
thirty-five lots, and some time after- 
ward he laid off 106 lots additional. 
Another addition was made by 
Charles Albertson in March, 1850. 
Before a town was regularly laid off, 
the settlement was frequently called 
Greensburg, on account of many 
people of that name living in the 
vicinity. The nickname of " Ess 
Harbor" was sometimes applied to it 
on account of the large quantity of 
that "fruit" sold there. The first 
merchants of the place were True- 
blood <fe Harned. Other and later 
merchants were Dr. Benj. Albertson, 
who was also the first physician, and 
Charles Pool, Parr <fc Tallock, John 
Wilson, Samuel Slade, Reuben Wil- 
son and Charles Ovington. The 
place had the usual number and char- 
acter of shops, mills, etc. A couple 
of tanneries were anion a- the indus- 
tries of Canton at one time. The 
town, from having once been a pros- 
perous and business village has been 
gradually retrograding for some years. 
Villages have sprung up on the rail- 
road, which, with better facilities for 
trade have in a measure destroyed 
that of other less favored places. 

Maktinsburo is situated in the 
extreme southeastern part of the coun- 
ty, and was laid off by Dr. Abner 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



261 



Martin and the plat recorded Sep- 
tember 18th, 1818. The founder of 
the town was a physician, the first of 
the place, and a good one. The first 
merchant of Martinsburg was Eman- 
uel Block, who opened a store in the 
latter part of 181S in a small and 
ui i pretentious log cabin. Lewis Gar- 
rett was the next merchant, followed 
later by Mr. Nuby. A German named 
George Alexander Hauz, opened one 
of the largest stores of the town 
in 1825. He was one of those charac- 
ters — good-natured fellows whom 
everybody loves to pick at, and many 
good stories are told of him. Although 
a strict church member, he sometimes 
allowed old Satan to get the better of 
him and at such times he would occa- 
sionally use language scarcely in con- 
formity with the Ten Commandments. 
Among the other pioneer merchants 
were Jacob Bixler, Washington Stevet, 
Thomas Davis, Martin Foster, Lane <fc 
Martin, Brewer it Cravens, etc. A 
linseed oil mill was built by Jacob 
Bixler in 1835 ; a tanyard was started 
at the same time by Michael Lemon. 
Martinsburg at one time bid fair to 
become a large and thriving place, 
but from some cause, probably the rail- 
road missing it, its greatness was 
nipped in the bud and it still remains 
a small place ; by the census of 1880, 
having but 126 inhabitants. 



Livonia is another old town, the 
date of its plat being February 25th, 
1819. It was laid off by James and 
David McKinney, and is situated in 
the western part of the county a little 
south of west of Salem. A store was 
was opened here in 1815 by James 
McKinney, and several other houses 
built before the place was laid off as a 
town. The first house built after the 
town was laid off was by John Scott 
who kept a tavern in it. He also 
opened a store some time later. Other 
merchants were McPharen & Young, 
John B. Shuger, John Wright, 
Andrew Orchard, Geo. McPheeters, 
Frazier & McPheeters, Asa McKinney 
and others. Livonia has had several 
mills during its existence, from the 
primitive "tread mill" to the first-class 
steam mill ; also a cotton mill and a 
woolen mill were among its industries, 
as well as a hat shop and a tanyard. 
Livonia will never 1 »e a large place, 
owing to the fact that it is away from 
the railroad ; having in 1880 but 211 
inhabitants. 

Haedinsbukg is a small village 
of 133 inhabitants, and is situated in 
the extreme southwestern part of the 
county. It was laid off in 1838 by 
Aaron Hardin who bestowed his own 
name upon it, March 24th, 1849, 
under an election for that purpose, a 
majority voted in favor of incorpor- 



262 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



ating the town and the following 
trustees were elected : A. H. Cheever, 
James Alexander and James C. Boy- 
den, Avho were President, Clerk and 
Treasurer in the order named. Mr. 
Hardin, the proprietor of the town, 
was its first merchant and was in the 
business before the town was laid off. 
A few years later James Mcintosh 
embarked in the business. These 
were followed by James King, Wesley 
Poison, Michael Swartz, James Kirk- 
wood, Isaac Wellman, W. J. Lapping, 
etc., etc. In 1883 the town showed 
its good sense by starting a newspa- 
per called the Enterprise, or rather by 
encouraging a Mr. Chas. E. Bulling- 
ton to start one. A town is bound to 
be prosperous that has a newspaper to 
tell the world of its business advan- 
tages and its commercial prosperity. 
Although a small town, Hardinsburg 
has a good business and a pushing 
and enterprising population. Its great 
drawback is the lack of a railroad. 

Fredericksburg is situated on the 
banks of the Blue river, near the 
southern line of the county. It is one 
of the very old towns of the 
county — being laid out in 1815 by 
Frederick Royse for whom it was 
named. The town was formerly loca- 
ted on the opposite side of the river 
but on account of frequent overflows 
it was moved to its present location. 



Among the early merchants were 
Bradly & Skinner, Theodore Catliu, 
James McClung, John T. Ferguson 
and others. McClung put up the first- 
brick building in the town, and was 
also the first postmaster. Jacob Har- 
ris established a tannery in the early 
history of the town, and did an exten- 
sive business in that line. The town 
suffered so much from repeated over- 
flows that it was finally decided to 
move it, so John Horner, Esq., laid 
off a town on the south side of the 
river, on New Albany and Vincennes 
turnpike road. The new town was 
first called Bridgeport, from a bridge 
across the river at the place where the 
town was located, but finally the name 
of the old town was bestowed on it, 
and it is now so called. Jacob Horner 
was the first postmaster of the new 
town, and among the early merchants 
were John and William Horner, Alex- 
ander McPheeters, James Gasaway, 
Simon P. Gresham, etc., etc. A vote 
Was taken March 26th, 1859, and it 
was decided by a large majority to 
incorporate the town. The first 
Board of Trustees was A. C. Hugrus, 
P. G. Senseney, and W. K. Andrews ; 
Dr. W. A. Bowles, Clerk and Treas- 
urer, and John H. Warren, Marshal. 
A newspaper was established in Fred- 
ericksburg, in March, 1879, called the 
News. Allen Smith was the proprie- 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



263 



tor. It changed bands a time or two, 
died for a while, was resurrected in 
October, 1883, by Charles E. Allen, 
and the next year he sold it to W. A. 
Kiinberliu, who made a live wide- 
awake paper of it. 

Little York is situated in the 
northeastern part of the county, and 
derived its name from the fact that 
most of the settlers of the neighbor- 
hood were from New York. It was laid 
off by George Davis, August 3d, 1831, 
and. the original plat comprised thir- 
teen lots. To this eleven lots were 
added in June, 1849, by Alanson 
Langdon, five more in May, 1852, by 
Hezekiah Thomas, twenty-one in Feb- 
ruary, 1854, by Joseph M. Scifers, ami 
another made in December, 1809, of 
thirty-four lots by Hezekiah Thomas. 
The first house was built in the town 
by Michael Richards. The first store 
was opened by Asa Glover in 1832. 
The accounts given of this pioneer 
store would imply that it was not a 
very extensive establishment. His 
stock, it is alleged, was worth not 
exceeding sixty-five dollars. The next 
store was opened by Hezekiah Thomas, 
and he was followed by Bobbins, 
David Mitchell, William Wilson, 
Henry Childs, and a number of others 
whose names cannot be recalled. 
Darling Jones opened the first tavern 
in 1836. It was liberally patronized, 



from the fact that it was on the direct 
route from New Albany and Louisville 
to Indianapolis. A mill was built in 
1859. Hezekiah Thomas and D. J. 
Meadows built a steam saw mill. 

Saltilloville w T as laid out in 1849 
by Madison Bowles, and named Sal- 
tillo for a town in Mexico that had 
considerable prominence during the 
Mexican war, but in order to get a 
post office the name was changed to 
Saltilloville. It comprises a total of 
137 lots, and is on the railroad north- 
west of Salem, near the western line 
of the county. Madison Bowles, the 
proprietor, was the first merchant, fol- 
lowed by William Knox, George A. 
Rosenbaum, William Galahan, John 
Rosenbamn, etc. S. D. Bayless was 
the first blacksmith ; Wright Stacy 
built an old-fashioned saw-mill and 
Hiram Matthew a grist mill. George 
A. Rosenbaum was the first postmas- 
ter. The town is small and does the 
usual business of small railroad sta- 
tions. 

Pekin is a small place on the rail- 
road southeast of Salem. The original 
town was laid on the Mutton Fork of 
the Blue river. It was laid out in 
November, 1831, but was not surveyed 
until 1837. The plat originally con- 
tained 137 lots. Among the early 
merchants were Gabriel Peavler, James_ 
F. Persise, D. W. Bierly, George M. 



264 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



Johnson, etc. J. F. Persise kept the 
first tavern. When the railroad was 
built a station was made across the 
river from the old town and as the new- 
place increased the old one decreased 
in importance, until nothing was left 
but a few "disjointed stones" and 
tumble-down cabins. By an act of 
the County Commissioners the old 
town, in 1854, was declared vacant. 
Somewhere about 1852, C. D. Green 
built a large brick house at the rail- 
road station in which, in addition to 
using as a depot and post office, he 
opened a general store and for some 
time did the largest business ever 
transacted in the county. This magnifi- 
cent building was burned in 1867 and 
upon the spot a large frame building 
has been erected. 

New Philadelphia was surveyed 
and platted in 1837 by John I. Morri- 
son for "William Hamilton, proprietor 
of the land on which it is located. It 
is in the eastern part of the county 
and was originally called Philadelphia. 
The plat contained forty-eight lots and 
to this, in 1837, Richard Lock wood 
added nine more. The first store was 
started by B. F. Huston, the next by 
William Thompson and the next by 
Benjamin Lockwoocl. An early busi- 
ness enterprise of the place was a hat 
factory carried on by Thomas Menaugh. 
New Philadelphia is a temperate town, 



as the following incident will show; 
A man named Sisson opened a saloon 
in an early day and one "auspicious 
night the doors of his shop were banged 
down, the heads of kegs and barrels 
bursted and the liquor therein poured 
into the streets by certain citizens of 
the town." In the eyes of the law 
this Avas perhaps a rank violation of 
its fundamental principles, but notice 
was taken of it, and Sisson concluding 
it was not a healthy climate in which 
to carry on the liquor traffic made no 
effort to reopen his establishment, a 
rule that has been since observed by 
men of his guild. 

South Boston is a small hamlet 
situated on the middle fork of Blue 
river and has never been surveyed and 
laid out as a town. Bravilian Wood 
opened a small store here more than 
half a century ago which caused a few 
other families to settle around, and 
finally the name "South Boston" was 
applied to the settlement. Other 
merchants have been Samuel Mc- 
Clanahan, Henry M. Wilson, William 
Farabee, Robert Cooper, Samuel E. 
Nelson, etc. A store, post office, a few 
shops and a lodge of Odd Fellows, 
comprises the town at present. 

Other villages, all of which are very 
small places, are Mount Carmel, Har- 
ristowii, Hitchcock, Claysville, Srned- 
ley, Farabee, Beck's Mills, Organ 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



265 



Springs, Halo, Fayetteville, Blue 
River, Chestnut Hill, Grooseport, 
Delaney Creek, Millport, Kossuth, 
Rush Creek Valley, etc. Some of 
these are but post offices and some 
are small railroad stations. None of 
them are places of much importance 
either commercially or otherwise. 

War History. — Washington county 
during the late civil war, like most of 
the loyal State of Indiana, did its 
part nobly and sent its quota of meu 
to the field promptly and freely. It 
is true, public opinion as to the merits 
of the war, and the way the Govern- 
ment should act toward the South, 
was divided, owing to the fact that 
many of the emigrants to the county 
were from the Southern States. The 
following quotations from the county 
press will give an idea of the tone of 
public sentiment here in 1861 : "We 
are clearly of the opinion that a 
judicious firmness on the part of the 
Chief Executive at the outbreak of 
this disunion movement at the South 
would have done more towards quell- 
ing it than all the compromises, con- 
cessions or patriotic appeals that have 
been or can be made by our wisesl 
statesmen. * * * He (the Pres- 
ident) gave them an inch and they 
have taken a span. They have not 
been in the least checked in their 
traitorous movements, 1 >ut have gained 



strength from the beginning. They 
see clearly that they are likely to 
meet with no resistance from the 
Federal power, and they are doubly 
bold in executing damning plans of 
disunion. It would be useless for us 
to attempt to express our opinion in 
regard to the cowardly course of the 
President; — we fail to find words 
severe enough in the English language 
and, therefore, cannot do the subject 
justice. Poor old wretch— what can 
he promise himself while he is per- 
mitted to live on earth and when he 
knows in a few years at most he must 
go down to the grave 'unwept, unhon- 
ored and unsung.' " — Times. " When 
Abe Lincoln and his abolition hordes 
or Republican allies undertake to 
compel our Southern brethren to sur- 
render their lights and liberties, to 
compel them by fire and sword and 
at the cannon's mouth and bayonet's 
point, to give up their rights, then we 
become a private in the Southern 
army, and do by them as Lafayette 
by our fathers." — Democrat. These 
two quotations show the two 
extremes, and between these two 
were represented every shade of senti- 
ment. The fall of Fort Sumter 
created the greatest excitement in the 
county, and a company was at once 
raised to go down and chastise Beaure- 
gard and ''Southern Hessians." Upon 



266 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



more mature deliberation, however, 
this summary manner of proceeding 
was reconsidered and the services of 
the company tendered the Governor. 
In the original call for 75,000 men, 
Indiana was required to furnish six 
regiments, (about 6,000 men), which 
requisition was soon filled. 

The first company from this county, 
was the one already alluded to, com- 
manded by Capt. Sayles, and which, 
on the 19th of June, 1861, was 
mustered into the United States 
service as Company G, of the Thir- 
teenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 
J. C. Sullivan, Colonel. On the 27th 
of July, 1861, another company was 
raised in the county, of which DeWitt 
C. Thomas was Captain, and James 
T. Howell and T. F. Morrison, Lieu- 
tenants. It became Company G, of 
the Eighteenth Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry, Thomas Pattison, Colonel. 
A third company was raised in the 
county, of which John B. Glover was 
Captain, and Stephen C. Atkinson 
and James H. Low were Lieutenants. 
It became Company D, of the Thirty- 
Eighth Infantry, and was mustered 
into the United States service Sep- 
tember 18th, 1861. Another company, 
of which about two-thirds were from 
this county, was raised during Sep- 
tember of this year, and became 
Company C, of the Fiftieth Regiment. 



Its Captain was H. N. Atkisson, and 
Lieutenants, Joseph L. Marsh and 
Delos Heffren. Under the President's 
call for 300,000 men in July, 1862, 
another company Avas raised in this 
county, commanded by Capt. J. H. 
Redfield, and was mustered into the 
reorganized Sixteenth Regiment, of 
which it was Company B ; Redfield, 
Captain, and Cyrus Raybill and 
John N. Thompson, Lieutenants. In 
August a company was filled, of 
which Jasper N. Rodman was Cap- 
tain, and Samuel P. Reid and William 
H. Peters were Lieutenants. It 
became Company B, of the Sixty-sixth 
Regiment. Another company recruited 
in the vicinity of Saltillo, commanded 
by Capt. John F. Baird, and Chas. H. 
Comwell and Archibald Baxter, 
Lieutenants, was Company A, of 
Sixty -sixth Regiment; Company F, 
of the Sixty-sixth, was raised around 
Little York ; Alfred Morris was its 
Captain, and Chester P. Davis and 
George R. Davis its Lieutenants. 
Company H, of the Sixty-sixth was 
mostly recruited about Fredericks- 
burg ; its commissioned officers were 
James D. McPheeters, Captain, and 
Win. N. Bringle and David Simpson, 
Lieutenants. Company K, of this 
Regiment, also received a number of 
men from this county. A company 
of cavalry was raised in the county, 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



267 



ill August, 1862. -which became Com- 
pany E, of the Fifth Cavalry, and 
was officered as follows : James P. 
Banta, Captain ; William H. Ward, 
First Lieutenant, and William M. 
Coffin, Second Lieutenant. 

Notwithstanding the patriotism man- 
ifested by the people of the county 
and the number of troops enlisted, 
they could not escape a draft which 
occurred Oct. 6th, 1862. It was, how- 
ever, for only sixteen men which filled 
the county's quota under all the calls 
so far made, and now the people set- 
tled down to quiet, watching patiently 
the development of events. 

Morgan's Raid. — The most impor- 
tant, perhaps, and certainly the most 
exciting event of 1863 was the raid of 
the Confederate Gen. Morgan through 
Indiana and Ohio, resulting finally in 
his capture and most of his army at 
Buffington Island. On the 10th of 
July (1863) his army marched into 
Salem and took possession. Contri- 
butions were levied upon the business 
men and leading citizens ; horses were 
taken at pleasure, stores raided, etc., 
etc. The loss to the people of the town 
and surrounding country was about 
si 5,00(1, exclusive of horses, and it 
was estimated that 500 horses were 
taken from the county. They entered 
the town of Salem about nine o'clock 
and remained until three in the after- 



noon, when they left, passing through 
the towns of Canton and New Phila- 
delphia. 

Under the call for troops in October, 
1863, the county's quota was 207. 
Recruiting now became lively and the 
requisition was finally filled without 
a draft. The new recruits went to the 
Sixty-sixth, the Thirteenth and other 
regiments that had already drawn men 
from the county. There was much 
opposition, however, to the war and a 
strong element in the county opposed 
its prosecution. Many leading citi- 
zens were arrested for "disloyalty" 
and sent to the military prison at 
Indianapolis, where they were tried and 
some convicted and others acquitted. 
Another call for 500,000 troops was 
made in 1864, which took a heavy 
draft to fill up. December 9th, 1864, 
the last call of the Avar was made 
which was for 300,000 men. Even- 
effort was made to fill it without a 
draft, and a bounty of S:;-_>5 was offered 
to each recruit. Enlistments went on 
and fast as made the men were sent to 
the field. A large number went to dif- 
ferent companies of the One Hundred 
and Forty-fourth regiment. But the 
Avar was nearing a close, and in the 
early spring of 1865 all efforts to 
enlist men in the county were aban- 
doned. It is estimated that Washing- 
ton county, during the war, furnished 



268 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 






2,804 men and $170,000 in bounty. 
The religious history of the county, 
and also its educational history, are of 
interest and rank favorably with any 
county of southern Indiana. An 
extended sketch of these items of 
county history cannot be given in this 
article further than to say that the 
educational facilities of the county 
are adequate to the demand of 
the people, and the interest manifested 
in matters pertaining to education is 
the best guarantee of the intelligence 
and civilization of the county. And 
the churches to be seen in every town 
and hamlet, and dotted over the 
country, is the best proof of the moral 
and religious standing of the com- 
munity. Among the religious denom- 
inations represented in the county are 
the Christians, with a larger member- 
ship perhaps than any other denomina- 
tion, the Friends or Quakers, Regular 
Baptists, Presbyterians, Covenanters, 
Lutherans, United Brethren, Metho- 
dists and Roman Catholics. The edu- 
cational institutions of Washington 
county at the present time are mostly 
the public schools. In earlier years, 
however, there were many private and 
select schools, some of them of a very 
high order. But the finely perfected 
system of the public schools has 
superseded most of the private or select 
schools. 



JUDGE THOMAS L. COLLINS 
— Was born in New Albany, Inch, June 
24th, 1833, and is a son of' James and 
Angelina (Loraine) Collins — the latter 
was a native of Petersburg, Va., when 
she was married to Mr. Collins. They 
afterwards emigrated West and settled 
in Indiana. The former, James Col- 
lins, was also born in Virginia, came to 
this State about 181 G, and settled in 
Charlestown where he engaged in 
farming. He was a man of con- 
siderable local prominence. He repre- 
sented Floyd county two terms in the 
Legislature, beginning in 183(3, and 
State Senator from that District in 
1840. His father, James Collins, came 
from Virginia in 1816. 

JikW Collins was educated in 
private schools in New Albany and 
at Greencastle, Ind. He began study- 
ing law, and was admitted to the bar 
of New Albany in 1855, practiced in 
that city until 1860, then removed to 
Paoli, Ind., remaining there until 
1866, and then moved to this place. 
He was elected Circuit Judge in 1*77, 
and has held the office ever since, 
being last elected in 1888. He mar- 
ried in 1856. 

Judge Collins is a man of sterling 
integrity, strong individuality ; and, 
as a judge he ranks among the fore- 
' mi >st judges of the State. 



HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



269 



JOHN M. GEE SHAM— A son of 
Simon F. and Marguerite Cynthia 
Gresham, (nee Wilson), Kentuckian 
and Indianian by birth respectively. 
His father was one of the early mer- 
chants of Fredericksburg, Washington 
county, End., where he, John M., 
was born June 7th, 1800. In 1888 
he published the eighth edition of 
Perrin's Kentucky History for the 
city of Louisville. His latest edition 
is the "Souvenir," 1889. 

His mother, a widow, and two sisters, 
Ida Belle and Cora May, reside at 
Salem, Ind. 



ASA ELLIOTT— Was born in this 
(Washington county) in 1852, and is 
a son of Asa and Mary (Maudlin) 
Elliott, also natives of the county. 
The father of the former, Henry 
Elliott, was a native of Russell county, 
Va., came to this State in 1815, 
settling in this (Washington) county, 
where he engaged in farming. His 
wife, Lutisha Reese, was from Tennes- 
see. The maternal grandfather of the 
subject, Nathan Maudlin, was from 
North Carolina, came to Indiana in 
1814, and settled in this county. He 
was a fanner, and for many years 
before his death served as a justice of 
the peace. 

His wife was Rachel Brown, <»f 
Randolph county, N. C. 



Asa Elliott, the subject, was educa- 
ted, in the common schools of the 
county, and at Pr< >f . May's select school 
of Salem. After quitting school he 
taught for eight years and in 1877 
began to read law during his vacation 
from school work. After proper read- 
ing he took a course at Central Law 
School of Indiana, at Indianapolis, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1879, the 
year before he came to Salem and 
commenced practicing, which he con- 
tinued until 1882 when he took a 
post graduate course at the same 
school and read in the office of Henry 
N. Spaan, of Indianapolis, Ind. He 
then came back and has been practicing 
here ever siuce. He is a young man, 
well versed in the law, and is rapidly 
growing into prominence as a lawyer. 
In 1880 he married Miss Emma Rud- 
der, a daughter of Elder James 
Rudder, a minister of the Christian 
Church. Mr. Elliott is a member of 
Salem Lodge No. 21, and of Salem 
Royal Arch Chapter No. 38 of Ma>ons- 



HON. JOHN C. LAWLEE— Is 

of pure Irish origin. He was born in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, January 13th, 184.'!. 
He is a son of John C. and Susan 
( Cahill) Lawler who were natives of 
Ireland and married in that coun- 
try. They emigrated to America in 



270 



WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



1835 and located in Cincinnati. The 
Elder John C, was a tanner by trade, 
a hardworking, industrious man and 
a quiet citizen. He died in 1854. 
J. C. Lawler the subject of this 
sketch, was brought up in Cincinnati 
and educated in the public schools of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and in St. Joseph's 
College in Perry county, Ohio. 

After quitting school he came to 
Indiana in 1855 and in May, 1861 
enlisted in Company Gr., Capt. Sayles, 
13th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He 
served three years when he was dis 
charged and came home. He read 
law with Crow and Voyles and was 
admitted to the bar in August, 1871. 
In 1867 lie was elected Trustee of 
Monroe township, Washington county, 
served oae term and was then elec- 
ted to the Legislature, in 1868, but 
resigned before the term was up ; was 
re-elected iu I860, and served the full 
term, being one of the leading Dem- 
ocratic members of that session. He 
served three terms as a member of 
the Town Council of Salem. He 
was married in December, 1866, to 
Eliza A. Robertson, a daughter of 
Alexander and Cornelia (Lumley) 
Robertson of this State. They have 
had six children, two of whom are 
dead ; Hallie, Minnie, John A., and 
Ella J., are living. Jessie C. and Edna 
are dead. Mr. Lawler is a member 



of the Odd Fellows, and is a staunch 
Democrat. As a lawyer he stands 



high at the bar. 



ANDREAV J. McINTOSH— Of 

Salem was bom in Washington coun- 
ty, Ind., October 6th, 1841. His 
father, John Mcintosh, resides at 
New Albany. His mother was a Miss 
Sarah Barnett before her marrias-e. 

A. J. Mcintosh began to earn his 
own living when a mere lad, as news 
boy ou the L. N A. & C. railway ; he 
c< >ntinued successfully in this position 
for five years ; he was then employed 
by the company as brakeman ; then as 
baggagemaster, and by the faithful 
performance of his duties won the 
confidence and esteem of the company 
who promoted him to the position of 
conductor of a passenger train. This 
position he filled creditably to himself 
and to the satisfaction of the company 
for seven years. 

He was married November 18th, 
1868, to Miss Ella S. DePauw, of New 
Albany, Inch, daughter < >f Hon. W. C. 
DePauw, deceased. (See DePauw's 
sketch). 

In 1869, Mr. Mcintosh engaged in 
business as a merchant at Salem and 
continued for some years. He was 
elected Sheriff of Washington county 
in 1882, and re-nominated by his party 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



•-•71 



the Democrats, in 1884 without oppo- 
sition. He was again elected and 
soon after resigned. In 1885, under 
the Cleveland administration he was 
appointed Revenue Inspector for the 
District in which he lives. This posi- 
tion he still holds, and will hold 
until President Harrison requests him 
to change his business. 

Mr. Mcintosh is a prominent 
Mason, having taken the 32d or Scot- 
tish Rite degree ; he is also an I. O. 
0. F. and K. of P. member. 



ELI W. MENAUGH— Circuit 
Clerk, and the most popular of all the 
Washington county officials, was born 
in Salem, Indiana, Jan. 17th, 1844, 
and is a son of John L. and Lavina 
(Naugle) Menaugh. The latter was 
of German origin. The former, John 
L. Menaugh, was born in Taylorsville, 
Ky., in 1807. He came to Indiana 
and settled in this count)-. He was a 
farmer, but afterwards eno-asred in 
merchandising and banking. He was 
a man of much local prominence, and 
was elected Sheriff in 1846, then to 
the Legislature, serving one term. He 
was Treasurer of the county eight 
years, and postmaster many years, 
under Democratic administrations — 
also took the census for the county in 
is 70. 



He was Colonel of the militia of 
this county during the Mexican war. 
He died in 1879. His father, Thomas 
Menaugh, a native of Ireland, came to 
America during the latter part of the 
century, and settled in North Caro- 
lina, but some years later moved to 
Kentucky, and later, in 1809, to Indi- 
ana, where his life was spent as a 
farmer. 

Eli W., the subject of this sketch, 
was reared in Salem, and educated in 
the common schools of the county, 
and at the age of seventeen years 
entered the army as a private, in the 
company of Capt. James Banta, and 
served all through the war. He arose 
to the rank of Quartermaster's Ser- 
geant, and came home in the summer 
of 1865. After his return from the 
army he opened a store, which he car- 
ried on for six years ; then served as 
Deputy Clerk, and in 1886 he was 
elected Circuit Clerk without oppo. 
sition, a position he now holds. In 
1866 he was married to Alice A., 
daughter of Win. A. and Cynthia 
( Mitchell ) Kemp, natives of this State. 
They have five children, viz: Nina, 
wife of Theodore Wilson, Deputy 
Clerk; Heber L., Annie D., Clyde 
and Gertrude. He is a member of the 
Baptist Church, of the Masonic Order. 
and of the K. of P., Gr. A. R., etc. 
He has held all the principal offices of 



272 



WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



the Masonic Lodge, and of the other 
organizations to which he belongs. 
He was a delegate to the National 
encampment G. A. R. which met in 
St. Louis in 1887. He was also a del- 
egate from his Congressional District 
to the Democratic National Conven- 
tion at St. Louis in 1888. 

He was Chairman of the Democrat- 
ic Central Committee of his county in 
the campaign of 1888, and while every 
county adjoining his lost to the Dem. 
ocracy from 200 to 300 votes, yet his 
county, after a close and thorough 
•organization, succeeded in giving one 
of her old time Democratic majorities. 



SAMUEL B. VOYLES— A promi- 
nent lawyer of Salem, was horn in 
Washington county, Indiana, in 1844. 
His father, William Yoyles, is also to 
the "manor born. 1 ' He was born in 
Washington county seventy-three 
years ago, is still living and is one of 
the highly respected farmers of the 
county. 

William Yoyles 1 father, whose name 
was also William, was a North Caro- 
linian by birth and was a private sol. 
dier in Gen. Gates' army in the war of 
the revolution. He was among the ear- 
liest pioneers in Washington county. 

S. B. Voyles' mother was Barbara 
Wilson, a daughter of Richard Wil- 



son, the latter a native of North Caro- 
lina, migrating from there to the 
county, and was among the first who 
settled here. 

His mother and a sister older than 
himself died in 1844. S. B. Yoyles 
remained on his father's farm until he 
was eighteen years old, when he 
entered the army in an Indiana regi- 
ment, and for three years fought in 
all the principal battles of his regi- 
ment. At the end of his time of 
enlistment he returned home, going 
thence to Missouri where he read law, 
and in 1808 attended the St. Louis Law 
School. In 1869 he Avas admitted to 
practice at Salem where he has success- 
fully continued ever since. 

At two elections he was chosen 
Prosecuting Attorney for his Judicial 
Circuit, composed of Jackson and 
Washington counties and in this office 
he served faithfully and energetically 
for four years. 

In 1880 after an acrimonious contest 
for the nomination he was selected and 
afterward elected to the Indiana 
Senate for the district composed of 
Washington and Floyd counties, 
and while a member of the Senate 
he was one of the acknowledged 
leaders of that body and served at the 
head of several important committees. 
Mi". Voyles is now serving as one of 
the Commissioners of the State Monu- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



273 



merit Board, appointed by the Gover- 
nor, and as a member of this Board he 
aided in the selection of the celebrated 
design for the State Soldiers' Monu- 
ment at Indianapolis. 

He was married in 1873 to Miss 
Maud Huston, of Salem, a woman of 
superior intelligence and culture. 
Their children are : Willard, Clara, 
Tom, Kate and Barbara. 

Mr. Voyles owns a beautiful home 
at Salem and is otherwise well fixed 
in a financial way. He is a good law- 
yer and is truly a self-made man. He 
enjoyed none of the educational advan. 
tages of the present era, nevertheless 
he is a man of good natural ability — 
a student of research, the builder up 
of his own fortune and the architect 
of his own fame. 



HENRY POLLOCH— Of Jeffer- 
sonville, Clark county, Ind., was born in 
the City of Louisville, Kentucky, 
February 27th, 1835. His father, 
William Polloch, was born in countv 
Mayo, Ireland, April 7th, 1708. The 
family have no record of the time he 
emigrated to the United States. He 
Avas married in this country in 1833, 
and died in 187'">. He was the father 
of five sons and one daughter, of win >m 
four sons and one daughter survived 
him, to wit : Henry the subject of our 



sketch, Thomas, William and John, 
and Mrs. Mary E. Polk. His mother's • 
maiden name was Judith Merritt. 
She was a native of Kentucky, having 
been born in Bullitt county, that 
State, August 11th, 1804, and is still 
alive and in good health, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-five years. She 
is the mother of ten children. His 
father, William Polloch, came to Clark 
county, Indiana, in the year 1838 and 
located on a farm, when Henry Pol- 
loch, the subject of this sketch, was 
but five years of age, and he remained 
there helping and assisting on the 
farm until he was seventeen years old. 
He then went to Charlestown in 1852 
and set in with John Cowling to learn 
the carpenter's trade, with whom he 
remained and served faithfully three 
years. All the schooling he ever re- 
ceived, he obtained in the free public 
schools of Clark county, Indiana. 

After his apprenticeship with Mr. 
Cowling expired, he went to Louis- 
ville where he worked at his trade of 
house carpenter. He remained there 
two years, when he came to Jefferson- 
ville and entered into a co-partnership 
with his old boss, John Cowling, to 
engage in the carpentering business. 
They remained together, doing a pros- 
perous business in their line until 
1866, when the co-partnership, by 
mutual consent,was (1 iss< lived, Mr.Cowl- 



274 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



ing retiring from the business. He then 
.became a contractor and builder on his 
own account and has built some of the 
finest buildings in the city of Jef- 
fersonville, and has continued in the 
business ever since. In connection 
with that of contractor and builder, 
he has studied and learned 
architecture and drawing and stair- 
building and makes and furnishes plans 
and designs for all kinds of houses and 
public buildings. He is considered 
one of the finest and most reliable 
builders around the Falls. 

Mr. Polloch was married to Miss 
Frances Brisby on the 12 th day of 
July, 1857. She was born in Jeffer- 
son county, Kentucky, February 21st, 
1835. They have two children, both 
girls, Anna Belle and Alice Everett. 
Alice is married to W. F. Clark, son 
of Prof. Joseph Clark, of the city of 
Jeffersonville, and Anna Belle is single 
and living at home with her parents. 
His first wife, Miss Frances Brisby, and 
the mother of his two daughters, died 
March 24th, 188-4, in the forty-ninth 
year of her age. On the 7th of April, 
1885, he was married the second time 
to Maggie E. Polk. She was born in 
Winchester, Clark county, in the State 
of Kentucky, April 14th, 1845. 

Mr. Henry Polloch is a man of good, 
strong native sense ; while it cannot be 
said that he is an educated man, yet 



he will be found well informed upon 
all public matters. His honesty and 
integrity no man ever questioned. 
Everybody that knows him has the 
utmost confidence in him in any mat- 
ter of importance. He is one of our 
best and most reliable citizens. 



JOHN S. BURGES— Of Harrison 
county was born in the same county, 
May 15th, 1836, and is a son of West 
Binges, a native of Maryland, who 
came to Indiana in 1825, and settled 
in Spencer township, where he died 
in 1852, at the age of 62 years. He 
was an old line Whig, but never took 
any interest in politics beyond the 
casting of his vote for the man of his 
party's choice. He was a local Meth- 
odist preacher for twenty-five years, 
and did much good in the community. 
His father came from England. The 
mother of John S. was Hannah Sin- 
sey, before her marriage, and was born 
in Virginia, where she was married, 
and then came West with her hus- 
band. She was of German descent. 
John S. was reared on a farm and 
received a common school education. 
He was married October 7th, 1856, to 
Miss Sarah Haas, a daughter of Rev. 
Jacob Haas, of German parentage, 
and a local minister of the United 
Brethren church, who came to Harri- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



son county in early times. Mr. and 
Mrs. Burges had six children, viz : 
Hannah C; Emma, (died at the age 
of three); Lida E.; William, (died at 
the age of eleven); Mary, and Joseph 
E. The mother died in 1866, and 
Mr. Buro-es married Mariah Brown, a 
daughter of John Brown of this coun- 
ty. The result of this union is five 
children : Lena ; John and Anna, 
twins ; Cort and Frank. Mr. Burges 
is a prominent member of the M. E. 
church, a Republican in politics, and 
an honest man naturally. He owns 
287 acres of well improved land, lives 
well, and is one of the enterprising 
and prosperous farmers of the county. 
His children have been well educated 
and are among the respected men and 
women of their neighborhood. Some 
are teachers, some married and rearing 
families of their own, some are farm- 
ers, and some live in other States. 
Joseph E. lives in California; Lida 
is married to Allen Russell, and lives 
in Cincinnati ; the others live in Harri- 
son county. 



HENRY H. DEVORE— Of Har- 
rison county, was born in Hart county, 
Kentucky, Jan. 14th, 1846, and is a 
son of Philip Devore, a native of Ken- 
tucky, and a grandson of Philip Devore, 
Sr., of Pennsylvania. Philip, Jr., the 



father of Henry, married Eunice 
Reese, a daughter of* Philip Reese. 
To them were born twelve children, 
Henry H., the subject of this sketch, 
being the youngest. His father emi- 
grated from Kentucky to New Albany, 
about 1850 and died in 1867 — 
his wife died about 1853-55. Henry 
H. was bred a farmer and educated in 
the public schools, receiving all the 
advantages they afforded. He enlisted 
in Co. C, Forty-ninth Indiana Vol. 
Infantry, Sept. 30th. 1861. In Febru- 
ary. 1864,he veteranized and served un- 
til the close of the war, being discharged 
Sept. 13th, 1865. His service was 
long and severe and he took part in 
all the battles and skirmishes of his 
regiment. "When the war was over 
and peace again smiled upon the coun- 
try, he laid down his arms and returned 
to his plow. 

He was married Jan. 29th, 1872, to 
Miss Eliza C. Cromwell, daughter of 
Lewis and Mary Cromwell. They 
have three children, born as follows: 
Mary E., Sept. 29th, ] 879 ; Viola, March 
15th, 1882, and Rose M., April 5th 
1886. Wm. Devore is a prosperous 
farmer and an exemplary citizen. 



JOSEPH W. FETZER — Of Har- 
rison county was born in Crawford 
county, this State. August 4th, 1825, 



276 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



and is a sou of Benjamin and Eliza- 
beth (Wilson) Fetzer. The former 
was horn in Virginia, and came to 
Crawford county, Indiaua, in 1821. 
He had been a soldier in the war of 
1812, and after locating here he fol- 
lowed farming and distilling. Eliza- 
beth Wilson Fetzer was born in Har- 
rison county and is a daughter of John 
and Prucilla Wilson, who were among 
the earliest settlers of Harrison county. 
The subject of this sketch was brought 
up on his father's farm, receiving limited 
educational advantages, which were 
one and a half months during the 
winter for three years. He was 
married December 7 th, 1848, to Miss 
Parmelia Little, a daughter of Josiah 
and Mary Little — the former was a 
native of Georgia and was a soldier in 
the war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Fetzer 
have seven children, five of whom are 
living and two are dead. 

He enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Thirty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry 
under Col. G. L. McJohnson, and in 
1864 was promoted to Lieutenant. 
He was discharged June 1865, and 
from disability now draws a pension. 

Mr. Fetzer owns 135 acres of choice 
land which he has highly improved and 
fanned to excellent advantage. He 
devotes considerable attention to the 
raising of fine stock. He and his wife 
are earnest, consistent Christians — 



members of the Methodist Church, 
and highly respected people in the 
community in which they live. 



JAMES MILLER— Of Harrison 

county, was born March 11th, 1844, 
and is the son of James and Margaret 
(Tuel) Miller; the former was born in 
Pennsylvania about the year 1803, and 
the latter in Harrison county, Indiana, 
about 1815-20. They had four chil- 
dren of whom James, the subject of 
this sketch, was the eldest. He (the 
subject) was reared on a farm and 
received a common school education. 
In August, 1862, he enlisted in Co. F, 
Eighty-first IndianaVoluuteer Infantry, 
and was discharged June 13th, 1865, 
on account of the expiration of his 
term of service. He returned home 
and resumed farm work. He was 
soon afterward married (June, 1865) 
to Miss Lavina Pearson, a daughter of 
John Pearson, Esq. They had one 
child — Mary Elizabeth, born Septem- 
ber 1st, 1866. Mrs. Miller died in 
September, 1867, and July 10, 1874, 
he married Mrs. Rebecca J. Stewart, 
who was born March 28th, 1848, and 
was the daughter of Adam and Nancy 
Coons, natives of Kentucky. She was 
the widow of Charles Stewart, a 
soldier in the late civil war, who 
enlisted in Co. G, Twenty-third lnd- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



277 



iana Volunteer Infantry and was dis- 
charged January 3d, 1864, his term of 
service having expired. He re-enlisted 
and served until July 23d, 1865, when 
he was discharged. He died in Janu- 
ary 8th, 187-2. Mr. Miller joined the 
M. E. Church when but fifteen years 
of age, and has ever since been a con- 
sistent member of the same. 



DAVID M. ALSPAUGH— Of the 

legal firm of Alspaugh <fe Lawler, was 
born September 11th, 1842, in Craw- 
ford county, Indiana, and is one of 
three living children in a family of 
eight, born to Solomon and Emaline 
(Curry) Alspaugh. 

Both parents were natives of Orange, 
Indiana, and of German-Irish descent. 

David M. was raised a farmer's boy, 
and by hard study passed a creditable 
examination and was licensed to teach 
when seventeen years old. After 
teaching one term, he responded to his 
country's call, and August 5th, 1861, 
enlisted a private in Company E, First 
Indiana Cavalry, Twenty-eighth regi- 
ment, for three years. He was in 
active service, and besides numerous 
skirmishes, was in battles of Fredericks- 
town, Round Hill, Helena, Little Pock 
and Pine Bluff, at the latter place 
receiving a severe gun-shot wound in 
the left knee. September 12th, 1864, 



he was discharged and having helped 
recruit Co. F, for the One Hundred 
and Forty-fourth, in January, 1865, 
he was commissioned First Lieutenant 
by Governor Morton, and as such 
served in the Shenandoah Valley until 
he was honorably discharged with his 
company, at the close of the war. 
On returning, he attended the seminary 
at Paoli eighteen months ; then for 
one year read law with Simpson & 
Mavity. Graduating from the Law 
Department of the State University, 
he located at Salem early in 1868, 
where he is recognized as one of the 
county's best attorneys. He is a stal- 
wart Republican, a Mason, and in 1884 
was a delegate to the Chicago conven- 
tion that nominated Blaine and Logan. 
Miss Joanna Brown became his wife 
July 22d, 1869, and these children 
were born to them : Homer G; Robert 
P.; Ora; Emma (deceased); an infant 
that died unnamed ; Florence ; David ; 
Paul and Thomas. 



HON. A.B. COLLINS— Attorney, 
was born in New Albany, Ind., Sep- 
tember 10th, 1853. His father, James 
Collins, was born in Virginia in the 
year 1802 and went to Kentucky when 
a small child, residing in Madison 
county until twelve years old when he 
settled in Louisville with his father's 



278 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



family, where lie was educated. When 
twenty-four years old lie studied law 
under the supervision of Judge Scott, 
in Charleston, Ind., and in 1830 was 
admitted to the bar. He married 
Angelina M. Lorain the same year. 
[Three of their seven children are yet 
living], and located for the practice of 
his profession at Paoli, Ind., which 
was his home for several years. He 
finally moved to New Albany where 
he ranked as one of the ablest attor- 
neys for more than thiity years. 

In 1844 he was an elector on the 
Whig ticket and was twice elected to 
the Indiana House of Representatives. 
He was a man of sterling integrity and 
uncompromising honesty; and died 
Oct. 15th, 1869, at Pekin. 

A. B. Collins, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared and educated in 
private schools of his native town and 
for two years was a student at Asbury 
University. He read law with his 
father and after being admitted to the 
Floyd county bar practiced his pro- 
fession from 1858 to 1865, but then 
removed to Pekin, Washington county, 
and followed merchandising and farm- 
ing until 1871, when he removed to 
Salem, where he has since resided, 
actively engaged in legal pursuits. 
In May, 1S75, Miss Maria Luckwood 
became his wife, this lady being a 
member of the Presbyterian church. 



Mr. Collins is one of Salem's best 
attorneys, and as a Democrat in poli- 
tics has twice represented this [Wash- 
ton] county in the State Legislature. 



WILLIAM RUDDER — The jun- 
ior member of the firm of Rudder <fe 
Son, was born Dec. 12th, 1845, being 
the oldest of six children born to 
James and Elizabeth [Barnet] Rudder. 
His father was a native of Kentucky, 
from which State he removed to Indi- 
ana in 1842, settling about one aud 
one-half miles east of what is now 
known as Campbellsburg. Prior to 
the year 1863 he was engaged in farm- 
ing, and since that time has been con- 
nected with the milling business. 

He has been a minister of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

William, the subject of this sketch, 
had good facilities for obtaining a 
good practical education, enough to 
enable him to teach in the common 
schools. 

October 26th, 1 S65, his marriage 
with Nancy E. Purlee was solemnized. 
The union has been blessed with 
seven children. James L.; Cora E.; 
Stella M.; William H; Lawrence E.; 
Lula D. and Dessie, all living except 
the eldest daughter who died in 1885. 

He is not a member of any church 
but contributes to churches in general. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



279 



He is a Mason, is a staunch Democrat, 
has served his township as Trustee for 
twelve years, was elected in 1886 to 
the Sheriff's office of his county, was 
appointed in 1885 to fill the unexpired 
term of Mackintosh, resigned, and was 
re-elected in 1886. 

His wife died in 1886. Mr. Rudder 
makes a good officer, and is one of the 
countj 's good men. 



DR. CHRISTIAN L. PAYNTER 
— An old practitioner of Silem, was 
born in Washington county, Indiana, 
February 19th, 1824, and is a ><>n of 
Catherine ( Etzler) Paynter. the former 
born in Maryland, in 1785', and the 
latter in Virginia in 1793. They emi- 
grated to Washington county in 1822, 
and settled on a farm three miles south 
of Salem, where C. L. Paynter was 
raised. 

John Paynter was a lieutenant in 
the war of 1812, and died in July, 
1868. His widow d;ed in 1879. Dr. 
Paynter secured a fair education in 
youth, taught school to some extent, 
and on the breaking out of hostilities 
between the United States and Mexico 
he became a member of Company D, 
Second Indiana Regiment. He served 
through Buena Vista, and on the expi- 
ration of his term of enlistment, 
returned to Ins native county and soon 



afterward began the study of medicine 
with Dr. A. M. Jones at Corydon. 

In 1853 he graduated from the 
Louisville Medical University, and for 
many years has occupied a prominent 
position among the physicians oC Salem 
and surrounding counties. He is a 
member of the Washington county and 
State Medical Societies. 

February 5th, 1856, he married 
Miss Sarah J. Smith, of Hardin county, 
Kentucky. 

William H., a young attorney of 
Salem ; Mary L., and Horace 31. are 
their children living. 



JOHN A. ZARING— Lawyer of 

Salem was born in Sc< >tt county ,Indiana, 
October 30th, 1*48, and is the eldest 
son of James W. and (Carlyle) Zaring. 
He assisted his father in carrying on 
the farm, attending school during the 
winter, until by diligence in hisstudies 
he was enabled, at the age of eighteen, 
to pass an examination for a teacher's 
certificate. From that time until he 
was twenty-two, he worked on the 
farm during the summer, and taught 
school in the winter. In the spring 
of 1870 he entered the State University 
at Bloomington, Indiana, where he 
spent three years, graduating from the 
Law Department in the spring of 
1874. After teaching school one term, 



2S0 



MISCELLANEOUS 



he settled in Salem, Indiana, and began 
the practice of law in which he has 
successfully continued. He was for 
several years associated in practice 
with Hon. Horace Heffren until the 
death of the latter, when he soon 
formed a partnership with Hilton B. 
Hotted, a talented young lawyer of 
Salem, and this partnership continues 
to the present time. 

Mr. Zaring was married to Miss 
Minnie Heffren, daughter of Hon, 
Horace Heffren, deceased. They have 
one child, a daughter, Mable. 

Mr. Zaring is one of the most 
polished speakers at the "Washington 
county bar, and by his close attention 
to business and his upright and gentle- 
manly bearing is fast winning a way 
to prominence as a lawyer in his com- 
munity. 



JUDGE BENJAMIN P. DOUG- 
LASS — Of Harrison county, was 
born at New Market, Shenandoah 
county, Virginia, July 2 2d, 1820. He 
is a son of Adam and Nancy [Penny- 
backer] Douglass. His ancestors on 
his father's side were Scotch from the 
north of Ireland. His grandfather 
was a captain in the I fish Rebellion 
of 1798 and on the quelling of the 
insurrection was compelled to flee to 
this country. On his mother's side 



they came from Pennsylvania, her 
people having settled there at the time 
of William Penn. Isaac Pennybacker, 
his mother's brother, was United 
States Senator from Virginia and also 
Judge of the Circuit Court. Benjamin 
P. attended the common school in Vir- 
ginia when a small boy and removed 
with his parents to Harrison county, 
Indiana, in 1834, where they settled on 
a farm. His father, being a fine classical 
scholar himself, undertook the educa- 
tion of his son, thereby affording him an 
excellent education,, an advantage of 
which he availed himself to the fullest 
extent. On finishing his course he con- 
tinued for a time with his father, work- 
ing on the farm, studying hard and 
teaching sch< >< >1, for which his education 
had so thoroughly qualified him. 

He continued in these occupations 
until 1849, Avhen he was chosen County 
Auditor. 

This election was somewhat remark- 
able, he being a Democrat and 
the district at that time being strongly 
Whig, a convincing proof of the esteem 
in which he was personally held by 
those who knew him. He Avas then 
strongly solicited to become Clerk of 
the county which, however, he declined. 
In 1857 he was elected as Representa- 
tive to the State Legislature from 
Harrison county, where he served one 
session. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



281 



In 1858 lie embarked in mercantile 
business in which he continued until 
1867, when he was appointed by a 
board of commissioners to fill an unex- 
pired term in the Auditor's office for 
the purpose of placing his accounts in 
better order. 

In 1868 he was elected Clerk of the 
Circuit Court. After the expiration 
of his term of office he entered regu- 
larly upon the profession of law at 
Corydon, where he continued until 
1885 when he was appointed as 
Special Agent of the Land Office, 
with headquarters in New Mexico, 
in which capacity he still serves 
[1889]. 

He was one of the directors and 
President of the Pike road from Cory- 
don to New Albany, of which he was 
one of the projectors. He was also 
one of the directors and engineer 
during the construction of the Air 
Line R. R. 

He was married at Louisville, July 
1835 to Annie Pope, daughter of 
Edmund Pendleton Pope, a prominent 
lawyer of Louisville. 

They have two children, one daugh- 
ter, now dead, and one son born July, 
1859, now in Colorado. 

The Judge, himself, is a man of 
commanding appearance. His habits 
are those of a scholar and a gentle- 
man. 



HORACE HEFFREN— Was born 
in Dryden, Tompkins county, N. Y., 
May 27th, 1831, and was the eldest 
son of Elijah and Julia A. (Dunham) 
Heffren. His father was a farmer. His 
mother's brother, Cyrus L. Dunham, 
was a very prominent man in State 
affairs, being one of the leading 
attorneys of Indiana, and also repre- 
sented the State in Congress. Mr. 
Heffren spent his early life on the 
farm, attending school during the 
winter, and at the age of seventeen 
taught school three terms. 

In October, 1850, he emigrated to 
Brownstown, Jackson county, Indiana, 
and in the following spring began the 
study of law in the office of C. L. 
Dunham and J. M. Lord at Salem. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1852 
and admitted to practice in the 
Supreme Court, on motion of the Hon. 
William T. Otto, May 29th, 1855. 
In 1852 he began the practice of law 
at Salem, Indiana, and resided there 
till his death. In October, 1856, he 
was elected State Senator, and intro- 
duced a bill which became a law : "To 
provide for transferring the certificates 
of the stock of the State, providing 
for a registry of the same; to prevent 
a fraudulent issue thereof, and provid- 
ing a punishment for a violation of 
the provisions of this act." 

In 1857, through the manipulations 



282 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



of the joint session in an attempt to 
defeat the election of United States 
Senator, a point of order being raised, 
Mr. Heffren spoke against time, as per 
arrangement, and succeeded in electing 
the United States Senator from his 
party. 

In 1801 he was elected joint repre- 
sentative from the counties of Wash- 
ington and Harrison without opposi- 
tion, and was the Democratic candidate 
for Speaker of the House, receiving 
the entire party vote. The same year 
he assisted in raising the Thirteenth 
Regiment of Indiana Volunteer In- 
fantry of which he was commissioned 
Major and afterward promoted Colonel. 
In October he was transferred to the 
Fiftieth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, 
which he assisted to recruit, and was 
sent to Tennessee with a portion of 
the regiment. In September, 1862, 
lie was compelled to resign owing to 
ill health. Returning to Salem, he 
resumed the practice of law, to which 
he devoted the remainder of his life. 
In the fall of 1882 he was again 
elected to the House of Representatives 
from Washington county, served as 
the Chairman of the Ways and Means 
Committee, and was the acknowledged 
leader of the Democratic side of the 
House in that session. For four years 
he was engaged in writing the history 
of Washington county, which he pub- 



lished from week to week in the Salem 
Democrat. For thirty-five years Mr. 
Heffren was a leading man in the 
Democratic party, and it was greatly 
indebted to him for its thorough 
organization and its success under many 
adverse and trying circumstances. 

He was married October 23d, 1855, 
to Miss Mary Persise. She died some 
years ago ; two children survive. 

Mr. Heffren was made a Free Mason 
in 1852. He took all the degrees 
through Knighthood and was a repre- 
sentative in the Grand Lodge and 
Grand Chapter of the State. 

He was closely identified with the 
growth and prosperity of Washington 
county. He was regarded as standing 
at the head of the legal fraternity in 
his county, and was highly respected 
as a citizen and gentleman. 



DAVID ALVIS [deceased]— A 
pioneer of Washington county, was 
born in about 1788 in" the Old Domin- 
ion, which was also the native State 
of his parents^ Jesse and Mary 
[Malory] Alvis. Jesse Alvis was an «- 
old revolutionary war soldier, and in 
about 1806 removed to Shelby county, 
Kentucky, where David Alvis, in 
about 1812, married Ellen McKniley, 
and from whence he emigrated Avith 
his family, in February 1816, to what 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



283 



is now known as Washington comity, 
Indiana, settling near Pekin on the 
South Fork of Blue river. 

In a few years David returned t< > 
Kentucky, and on his return brought 
his aged parents who ever afterward 
made Indiana their home. 

The Alvis family saw much <>f the 
hardships and inconveniences of pio- 
neer life, and have been in some way 
identified with the prosperity of the 
county from its organization down to 
the present. 

Mrs. Ellen Alvis died in 1863, fol- 
lowed by her husband in 1868. Per. 
haps the most widely known of their 
children is W. M. Alvis, who was 
born in Pierce township, September 
6th, 1823, and has always made Wash- 
ington county his home. 

Much of his life has been passed in 
teaching school, and for eight years he 
has served as Treasurer of the count)', 
being elected to that office four times. 

Miss C. D. Lapping became his wife 
in 1850, and J. Albert and J. D. were 
their children, the latter being the 
<nily survivor. 

The mother dying in 1856, Mr. 
Alvis married Miss A. M. Motsinger 
in 1858. Two children, A. C. and 
Charlie M. have been born to them. 



D. A. JENNINGS — Editor of 
the Salem Democrat, was born in 



Noble county, Ohio, June 2 2d, 1855. 

He is a son of Judge A. P. Jen- 
nings, "native of Ohio and served as 
Probate Judge ; his mother — Sarah 
A. Archer — born in Ohio. After 
attending the common and normal 
schools, he entered Adrian College, 
Michigan, from which he graduated at 
the age of twenty-one, receiving two 
degrees — Bachelor of Arts and Bach- 
elor of Science. Later he attended 
lectures at the University at Halle 
and Freiburg, Germany, being lectures 
on civil law, remaining there for 
one and one-half years ; but remained 
altogether two years in Europe study- 
ing. He came back, went West in 
1879 and in 1880 edited the Independ- 
ent at Castle Bock, Colorado. At 
Denver, Col., he was admitted to the 
bar at whioh place he practiced law, 
but continued there but a few months 
when he returned to Ohio and was 
employed in teaching school. 

In 18S4 he took charge of the.Pms 
and practiced law at Caldwell, Ohio. 
He continued to run this paper till 
the 9th of November, 1887, when he 
came to Salem and purchased the 
Salem Democrat — the oldest paper in 
Washington county. 

He was married in 1880 at Boulder, 
Col., to Miss Belle Zora King, of 
( lastle Rock. They have two children* 
Mvra and Warner. 



284 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Since Mr. Jennings has taken charge 
of the Salem Democrat the circulation of 
the paper has considerably increased 
audhasbeen improved in many respects 
and now is one of the best edited 
county newspapers in the District. 



FRED. L. PROW— Attorney at 
law and merchant of Salem, Indiana, 
a son of James W. Prow, who was 
born in North Carolina, the 1st of 
January, LSI 2, and emigrated with 
his father, Christian Prow, and settled 
in Washington county, Indiana, about 
1818. 

James W. Prow married Elizabeth 
L. Stephens, who was born in East 
Tennessee in 1818; emigrated with 
her parents while quite young and 
settled at Paoli, Orange county, Ind., 
and afterwards removed to Bono, 
Lawrence county, where she and 
James W. Prow were married in 
1836. 

James W. Prow served several 
terms as Justice of the Peace and one 
term as County Commissioner of 
Lawrence county ; he was in the mer- 
cantile business for years at Bono. 
He removed to Salem in 1863 and 
served several terms as Justice of the 
Peace. He was a commercial repor- 
ter and collector ; he died in March, 
1880. 



The subject of this sketch was born 
at Bono, Lawrence county, Indiana, 
October 22d, 1836, and was raised 
there, receiving only the advantages 
of a common school education, except 
meager private instruction and per- 
sonal application to books for about a 
year after quitting school. He 
enlisted in the Fiftieth Indiana Vol- 
unteers in September, and served 
with it in all its campaigns up to the 
battle of Parker's Cross R ^ads, 
December 31st, 1862, where, while 
acting as mounted orderly for Col. 
C. L. Dunham, commanding a brig- 
ade, he received special mention in 
Dunham's official report of the battle, 
for bravery on the field. See Soldier 
of Indiana [Ind. Tp. Library], Yol. 
2, p. 278. 

" In the rush, the Fiftieth made a 
bayonet charge, which carried it into 
and through the enemey's lines. Dun- 
ham's horse was shot from under 
him, but his orderly, Frederick L. 
Prow, dismounting in the midst of a 
terrible fire, supplied the loss by his 
own deprivation." 

In January,1863, he was transferred 
to the Signal Corps U. S. A., and 
with its detachments participated in 
the battles before the siege of Vicks- 
burg. The following spring and sum- 
mer he participated in the Tennessee 
and Georgia campaigns, including the 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



285 



siesie of Kenesaw Mountain and 
Atlanta. His term of service expir- 
ing soon after the surrender of the 
latter place, he returned to Indiana 
and engaged in mercantile business at 
Dover Hill, Indiana, and removed from 
there to Salem, Indiana, in 1871. 

He was married to Lucretia A. 
Montgomery, daughter of Dr. James 
Montgomery, at Bono, Lawrence 
county, in January, 1866. He served 
about four years as Justice of the 
Peace in Martin county ; studied law 
with Thos. M. Clarke, and with him 
opened a law office in Salem in 1S72 ; 
in 1S76 was elected Prosecuting Attor- 
ney for his circuit and re-elected in 
1878 ; the three commissions being 
signed by Governors Mi >rt< >n,Hendrieks 
and Williams. In 1885 he retired 
from active practice and opened a 
general store, to which he devotes most 
of his attention ; only collecting and 
doing a little legal business for his 
friends. 



JOHN F. READ— Counselor at 

law, of Jeffersoiiville, is a member of 
a family which has been identified 
more or less with the history of the 
State, since it emerged from its terri- 
torial condition. On both sides he 
descended from Kentuckians who 
emigrated to Indiana at an early date. 



He was born on Indiana soil, October 
4th, 1822, and is the eldest of four 
children of James G. and Mary 
(Mahan) Read. His father repre- 
sented his District in the Legislature 
for over twenty years. In 1828 he 
received the Democratic nomination 
for Governor against the Whig candi- 
date and was defeated by a small 
majority. In 1834 he was again the 
candidate of his party for Governor, 
and again suffered a defeat at the 
hands of the dominant party, but it 
could well be said by his opponents : 
"A few more such victories and we 
are lost.' 1 

He was the editor and proprietor 
of the first newspaper published at 
Vincennes, Indiana, which naturally 
reflected his politics in an eminent 
degree. Uncompromisingly Demo- 
cratic in his convictions, he conducted 
his paper with an eye single to tlie 
interests of his party, while dealing 
firmly but courteously with his oppo- 
nents. He was well known as a ready 
writer and fluent and graceful speaker. 
He laid out the City of Washington, 
Daviess county, where he resided for 
many years. In early life he had been 
engaged in mercantile business, and 
hai 1 succeeded in accumulating a com- 
petence. 

John F. Read was educated at 
Hanover College, Indiana, from which 



386 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



he graduated in the class of 1845, 
under the presidency of Professor 
Me Masters. Iu 1846 lie commenced 
the practice of law at Jeffersonville, 
where he has been for more than thirty 
years actively engaged iu the profes- 
sion. His present law partner is Jonas 
G. Howard. 

Mr. Read has served one term in 
the State Legislature and eight years 
in the land office of the State — four 
years under the administration of 
James K. Polk and four under Frank- 
lin Pierce. 

The e positions were filled with 
credit to himself and satisfaction to 
the public, but it is not alone in pub- 
lic or professional life that Mr. Read 
has influenced the development of his 
city and State. 

He has always been a truly public 
spirited citizen, not given to the 
encouragement of visionary schemes, 
but aiding everything that in his judg- 
ment had a tendency to enliven or 
improve the business interests of the 
community. 

In 1846 Mr. Read married Miss 
Eliza Kegwin. She died in 1852, 
leaving a daughter who is the wife of 
Mr. Sage, of Jeffersonville. 

In 1855 Mr. Read married Miss 
Eliza Pratt, daughter of Joseph R. 
Pratt, of Georgetown, Kentucky. 
They have a family of eight children. 



CAPTAIN ALLEN W. BROWN 
— Ex-Treasurer of Jennings county, 
Vernon, Indiana, was born in Jennings 
county, Indiana, November ■_' 7th, ls^T, 
and was the eldest son of John and 
Jane (McGill) Brown. His grand- 
father Brown served both in the revo- 
lutionary war and the war of 1812. 
His uncle, John McGill, was in the 
war of 1812, and his grandfather Mc- 
Gill spent seven years in the revolu- 
tionary army. Captain Brown was 
brought up on his father's farm and 
employed his time in agricultural 
labor, and assisting his father in his 
saw-mill, until he was twenty-one years 
of age; iu this time having been only 
a pirt of three months at school. He 
has, however, since obtained a good 
English education. When a good- 
sized boy, he worked for some time 
at 12 A cents per day. 

In 1848 he built a saw-mill which he 
operated one year. He then sold it, 
and after spending some time in the 
South, worked in the ship-yard at Madi- 
son. 

In 1850 he returned to Jennings 
county, re-purchased his mill and car- 
ried it on for about four years. He 
also built a flouring mill at Scipio, in 
which he had a one-third interest,which 
he conducted for a year or two. He 
then sold his mill property, and for a 
short time was in no regular business. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



287 



In 1S5C) he purchased another saw- 
mill and operated it until August, 1862, 
when he sold out and enlisted as a 
private in Co. B., Eighty-second 
Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was 
soon after commissioned Second 
Lieutenant, and then rose to the rank 
of Captain. He was with his regiment 
during all its important actions from 
the battle of Chattanooga to that of 
Atlanta, except the battle of Murfrees- 
boro when he was on sick leave in 
Indiana. Owing to ill health he 
resigned in November, 1864, and 
returned home. He soon after pur- 
chased an interest in a store at Scipio 
which he carried on two years; then 
selling out he returned to his farm, 
which he has since continued to 



manage. 



He was elected Treasurer of Jen- 
nings county in 1876, and re-elected 
in 1878. In politics he is an earnest 
Republican, and has been an energetic 
worker, contributing much to the suc- 
cess of his party. He is a member 
of the Baptist Church. 

In July, 1853, he married Miss 
Euphemia Wilkins, daughter of a 
fa inier of Jennings county. They 
have four children living; three 
sons ami one daughter. Captain 
Brown is a genial and social gentle- 
man, and is esteemed by all who 
know him. 



GENERAL LEVI SPARKS— 

Late of Jeffersonville, was born at 
Chinch Hill, Queen Anne county, 
Maryland, November 21st, 1814. He 
came to Indiana in 1836, and settled 
in Washington, Daviess county, but 
after remaining there one year he 
removed to Jeffersonville and entered 
the dry goods house of W. D. Beach. 
In 1840 he engaged in the dry goods 
trade in partnership with Peter Myers. 
This connection continued for eight 
years when Mr. Myers retired and Mr. 
Sparks continued in business for him- 
self until his death, which occurred 
March 26th, 1875. He was an active 
Democrat, and was a prominent mem- 
ber of his party. From 1845 to 1869 
he was a member of the City Council 
of Jeffersonville, and proved himself 
to be one of the best servants that the 
city has ever had. 

In 1869 he was elected Mayor of 
the city, and again in 1871. Few men 
in public or private life have been 
more devoted to the interests of the 
city than Mr. Sparks. To him is 
largely due the location of the Govern- 
ment Arsenal at Jeffersonville, which 
contributes in no small degree to the 
prosperity of the place. He was for 
a number of years a member of the 
District and State Democratic Central 
Committee. Every duty which 
devolved upon him was performed 



288 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



with energy, sagacity and fidelity. He 
was a member of every National Con- 
vention from 185*2 until his death. 
He was an intimate friend of Governor 
Hendricks, Senator McDonald and 
M. C. Kerr. 



PROF. JAMES G. MAY — Was 

born in Lincoln county, Indiana, April 
21st, 1805. He was the eldest son of 
nine children — two brothers and two 
sisters born to Jacob and Eleanor 
(McDonald) May. The May family 
history is briefly this : In the year 1700 
a crowd of students of colleges and 
universities of a portion of Germany, 
heated by the drinking of crambam- 
buli, a German drink, uttered treason- 
able sentences against the crowned 
heads and potentates of their native 
country, and threatened to deprive them 
of their kingly power. 

George May, great-grandfather of 
James G., the subject of this sketch, 
together with his brother John and 
thirteen others, escaped arrest and in 
sailors' disguise took passage to 
America, landing at Philadelphia in 
1701. John May's descendants set- 
tled in North Carolina, Maryland and 
Virginia, afterwards spreading to Ken- 
tucky, Indiana and Ohio. 

George May was the father of seven 
sons and two daughters, and Jacob, 



grandfather of James G., was the 
oldest. George died at Philadelphia. 
Jacob settled in Maryland and settled 
near Baltimore and there Jacob, father 
of James G., was born. Jacob, the 
second, settled in Kentucky in 1783 at 
the age of ten years with his parents. 
He came to Indiana in 1825 and died 
at Martinsville, in Washington county, 
in 1852. 

William McDonald, grandfather of 
James G. May, was born in Philadel- 
phia and his parents were natives of 
Scotland. He served seven years in 
the revolutionary war ; married a Miss 
Bell in North Carolina, she being a 
near relative of John Bell, who was a 
candidate for the Presidency in 1860. 
James G. May never remembered 
when he learned his letters. At six 
years of age he read sufficiently well 
to peruse the Bible unaided. From 
the time he was four years old he was 
always a student up to the time of his 
death. When fourteen years of aare 
lie entered Morrison's Academy and 
there acquired an extensive knowledge 
of the sciences. Not possessing the 
means necessary to take a collegiate 
course, he began teaching at sixteen 
years, in his father's family and working 
on the farm, at the same time pursuing 
privately the course his academic class- 
mates were taking at Center College, 
at Danville, Ky. In ten years he 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



289 



mastered the course without one day's 
attendance at college and in 1823 taught 
his first term of subscription school. 

In November, 1824, he came to 
Indiana and that winter taught school 
in Brown township, Washington 
county. In 1825 he began reading 
law privately. The greater part of his 
useful life was passed teaching school ; 
about 7,000 days in Washington 
county, 1,080 da)'S in Decatur county, 
Ind., 1,935 days in Harrison county 
Seminary, 1,170 days in New Albany 
as superintendent and general instruc- 
tor, 308 days scattering — making 
a total of some 11,000 days passed in 
the school room. It is not necessary 
to add that Prof. May made school 
teaching a suec^s. 

In 1838 he was admitted to practice 
law at Rushville, Ind., and engaged in 
legal pursuits. From December, 1832, 
to November. 1834, he was editor of 



the Western Annotator, at Salem. 
He was a Jacksonian in politics up to 
1833, when his views changed on the 
question of banking, and in 1834 he 
wrote the first article recommending- 
William Henry Harrison for the Pres- 
idency. 

In 1856 he became a Republican, 
and remained one till the day of his 
death. During the bitter struggle 
between the North and the South, he 
was ever found a warm supporter of 
the Union and Lincoln's administra- 
tion, and often was threatened all man- 
ner of violence for his outspoken and 
radical stand in favor of the Union. 
March 5th, 1829, he married Nancy, 
daughter of Benoni and Elizabeth 
(McCoskey) Armstrong. 

Prof. May, at the time of his death 
in the winter of '88, bore the honor of 
1 icing the oldest schoolmaster in the 
State and longest in the service. 




PART II 



JSOUVENIRj-KETGMES. 



CHARLES C. ANDERSON is the son 
of Samuel Anderson anil Rebecca (Craw- 
ford) Anderson, and was born in the city of 
Philadelphia, January 29, 1813. His 
father emigrated to the West in 1S17. He 
came from Philadelphia, across the State of 
Pennsylvania, by land, in a derburn car- 
riage, to Pittsburg, and they were some two 
or three weeks making the trip. At Pitts- 
burg his father and some of his friends 
jointly bought a liatboat, and in this boat 
floated down the Ohio river to Cincinnati, 
Ohio ; arriving at Cincinnati, which was 
but a small town at that time, father en- 
gaged to work in a foundry owned by a Mr. 
Green, the motive power of which was a 
yoke of oxen. One of Mr. Anderson's 
early recollections is connected with this 
foundry. He used to go there, and the 
Irishman, Jimmie Ramsey, who had charge 
of the oxen and to keep the machinery in 
constant motion, would place him on the 
beam to which the oxen were hitched, 
where he would ride round and drive the 
oxen. That, he thought, was the most de- 
lightful time in life. 

After working in Mr. Green's foundry for 
a time, he worked in Watson's clock fac- 
tory, and was engaged in manufacturing 
clock cases. His mother, who was a 
native of Philadelphia, died soon after they 
came West, in 1820, when he was but 
seven years of age. She was of a Quaker 



family, and retained, until her death, some 
of their peculiarities. His father, who was 
a native of Trenton, N. J., died in 1S34, 
at the age of forty years. 

Mr. Cbarles C. Anderson, the subject of 
our sketch, learned the trade of foundry- 
man, in Cincinnati, with Robert C. Green, 
who owned and operated a large foundry 
and machine shop in that city. In 1832 
Mr. Green removed to Jeffersonville, bring- 
ing Mr. Anderson with him, and built a 
shop and carried on the foundry and 
machine business for a number of years. 
Mr. Anderson remained with Mr. Green 
until he quit the business and engaged in 
other pursuits. 

Some time about 18-10 Mr. Anderson 
started a small machine shop a short dis- 
tance above Howard's shipyard, which he 
carried on about four years, when he 
formed a partnership with Hamilton Rob- 
inson, Richard Goss and James Kiegwin, 
and removed to an old carriage shop, 
situated on a lot adjoining where the City 
Hotel on Spring street now stands. Here 
the firm carried on business for a number 
of years, when a change was made in the 
business, and a shop was built on Watt 
street between Maple and Court avenue. 

In I860 this shop was burned and Mr. 
Anderson, who was its sole proprietor, lost 
most of his property. His friends came to 
his assistance and in six weeks had a tern- 



CLARK COUNTY 



porary building and resumed business. 
Since then- he has added to his buildings 
and stocked his foundry with tools and im- 
proved machinery so that he can and is 
doing a good business. The name of his 
foundry is "The Jefferson Foundry," but it 
is as commonly known as "Anderson's." 

Mr. Anderson was married in 1835 to 
Miss Mary Lanciskes, a native of Zanes- 
ville, Ohio, but was residing in Jefferson- 
ville with some relatives at the time of the 
marriage. She died in 1880, leaving six 
living children, — Mary, George, John, 
Charles, Eobert and Martha ; two, Levi and 
Laura, being dead. In 1SS2, after living 
a lonely hfe for two years, he married, for 
the second time, Mrs. Martha J. Terry, of 
Jeffersonville. 

He was originally a member of the 
Christian Church, but is now and has been 
for thirty years, a member of the Church 
of God, meeting in the Advent Christian 
Tabernacle. His wife is also a member of 
the same church. 

From 1840 to 1843 he resided in the 
town of Port Fulton, adjoining the city of 
Jeffersonville, and while there he was a 
member of its Board of Town Trustees, and 
was made president of the Board. He also 
held the office of Town Treasurer. 

Mr. Anderson is one of the oldest and 
most highly respected citizens of Jefferson- 
ville; he has the universal esteem and 
confidence of all who know him, and those 
who have known him longest and best 
honor and esteem him the highest. 



JAMES BURKE was born February, 
1826, in County Limerick, Ireland. He 
is the son of William Burke and Catharine 
(Fitzgerald) Burke. His mother came to 
America. 

Mr. Burke emigrated to the United 
States in 1848, and came direct to Jeffer- 



sonville, to meet his brother John and 
other relatives who had preceded him to 
this country, and entered into partnership 
with John Burke, and continued together 
for five years. He became a contractor 
for the grading and paving the public 
streets of Jeffersonville. As a street con- 
tractor he was a success, and made some 
money. In his dealings with the city and 
the public, he established a character for 
honesty and integrity, so that the people 
of his ward, in 1863, elected him council- 
man, and continued him as one of its rep- 
resentatives in the council until 1872. In 
1875 he was elected city treasurer, and in 
1877 and 1879 was re-elected, and served 
until September, 1881. 

In 1S86 he was appointed by Mr. Cleve- 
land postmaster for the city of Jefferson- 
ville, in which capacity he is now serving 
the people. 

After he retired from the treasurer's 
office, he became one of the principal con- 
tractors on the Owensboro' & Bussellville 
Railroad, and continued there until in 1884, 
and from that time until in 1S86 was en- 
gaged in the coal business in Jefferson- 
ville. 

He was married in 1855 to Miss Cor- 
nelia Craugler, a native of New York. 
The result of the union is five living chil- 
dren. 

Hon. Frank B. Burke, a son, is now joint 
senator from the counties of Clark, Scott 
and Jennings ; James Burke, in the coal 
trade; William Burke, a clerk in the post- 
office under his father ; Miss Maggie, also a 
clerk under her father in the postoffice. 



HON. HENRY A. BURTT, an able and 
prominent lawyer of the city of Jefferson- 
ville, was born near the town of Utica, in 
Clark county, Indiana, October 8, 1852. 




X^ a.a^z: 




SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



He is the son of Eli Burtt, a native of 
Clark county, born in Utica township, 
April 16, 1S17, upon the farm where he 
now resides. He is a prominent farmer 
and a leading man in his township in all 
matters of public interest. 

His grandfather Burtt was among the 
earliest pioneers of the West, and settled 
in Clark county for his future home. His 
mother was Paulina Hardin, a native of 
Oldham county, Kentucky, and belongs 
to that famous Hardin family of Kentucky 
of which the great and distinguished crimi- 
nal lawyer, Ben Hardin, was a conspicious 
member. 

Henry A. Burtt was reared on his father's 
farm where he was born, and, when arriv- 
ing at a proper age, like all farmers' sons, 
went to work upon the farm, assisting in the 
labor of cultivating it. He remained at 
home with the family until he was sixteen 
years of age, going to school during the 
Winter months and acquiring such educa- 
tion as the schools of the neighborhood 
afforded. At the age of sixteen he was 
sent to the State University at Blooming- 
ton, and entered the Preparatory Depart- 
ment. He did not remain there continu- 
ously until he graduated, but returned 
home and taught school a number of years 
before he finally graduated. He however 
completed his full collegiate course, and 
graduated with all the honors in 1878. 

Enough of the Hardin blood flowed in 
his veins to bias him in the determination 
of the question in choosing his profession 
in favor of the law, and he commenced its 
study soon after returning from the Univer- 
sity. After reading law in the office of 
Ferguson & Marsh, a strong law firm of 
the city of Jeffersonville, the senior mem- 
ber of which is now the presiding judge of 
the Clark and Floyd Circuit Courts, he 
entered the Law Department of the Uni- 



versity of Louisville, and graduated with 
high honors in 1880. However he had, 
upon an examination, been admitted the 
year previous to graduation to practice 
law in all the courts of Clark and the ad- 
joining counties. He practiced alone until 
the summer of 1885, when he formed a 
partnership in the practice of the law, with 
James Edward Taggart, a young lawyer of 
fine ability and legal talent, who had just 
graduated and come into practice. 

Henry A. Burtt, the senior member of 
the law firm of Burtt & Taggart, is a lawyer 
of distinguished ability. He is a hard 
student and leaves nothing to chance. He 
digs to the very bottom of his cases ; he 
knows every weak and every strong point 
in them, and prepares himself by reading 
and study to meet his opponents in the 
courts by fortifying his weak points in his 
case, if there are any, and urging his strong 
ones upon the attention of the court and 
jury. A lawyer of his studious habits, 
energy and indomitable will is bound to 
succeed in his profession. 

The firm have now grown into a large 
and lucrative practice in the Clark Circuit 
Court, and it is only a question of time 
when they will stand among the foremost 
at the bar in the city. 

He was married to Miss Marietta Robin- 
son, daughter of William Fletcher Bobinson, 
a substantial and wealthy farmer of Utica 
township, November 3, 1880, and three 
children is the result of their union. 



GEORGE W. CARR is a native of the city 
of Jeffersonville. He was born February 13, 
1855. He has made Jeffersonville his 
home all his life, and such education as he 
acquired during his school-boy days he ob- 
tained in the public schools of Jeffersonville. 
He was a newsboy, and carried and sold 
newspapers for six or seven years, includ- 



CLARK COUNTY 



ing the time of the war. He clerked in a 
news stand in Jeifersonville for James Fer- 
rier and Samuel McGennigal, two years 
each, and in 1875 he accepted a position 
as clerk for Joseph Spillors in his news 
stand in Louisville, and remained with him 
ahout eighteen months; and then in 1S77 
he succeeded his father, Abraham Carr, in 
the merchant tailoring business in Jeffer- 
sonville and has continued in that busi- 
ness ever since. Of his success in business 
he has no reason to complain. He has a 
good trade, and hopes by close attention to 
business and honest dealing to largely, in 
the course of time, increase it. 

He is now and has been for several years 
the agent of Adams Express Company for 
this city. He is a member of the Uniform 
Bank of the Knights of Pythias and the 
American Legion of Honor. 

He was married in 1882 to Miss Josie 
Terry, daughter of Joshua Terry, of Jeffer- 
sonville; she was reared in Jefferson coun- 
ty, Ky. The result of their union is three 
children, one boy and two girls, — Cleona, 
Altha and George W. 

Mr. Carr is the son of Abraham and 
Sarah (Huber) Carr, both natives of the 
State of Pennsylvania, who came to Indi- 
ana in 1852. His father is still living in 
Jeff er son ville, but his mother is dead. 

Mr. Carr is one of our foremost young 
business men. He is sober, moral and in- 
dustrious, and has the confidence and re- 
spect of all who know him. 



DAVID S. COOK was born February 9, 
1857, in Chillicothe, Ohio. He was the son 
of William Cook and Margaret (Scott) Cook. 
His father, William Cook, was born in 
Scotland, and came to this country while he 
was yet quite a young man. His mother 
was a native of Scotland, and emigrated to 
the United States while a clu'ld. 



All the education that our subject ever 
received he got in the common schools 
taught in the neighborhood where he was 
raised until he was fourteen years old. 
He was then put to work in stacking 
staves in a stave yard, and continued 
in that business for some five or six 
years. He then went to work in the Queen 
City Cement mills, and continued at that 
business for some time, and then he took a 
trip to Texas on a prospecting tour. Re- 
turning home he was engaged as master 
mechanic in the Oolitic Lime Stone Quar- 
ries, near Salem, Washington county, In- 
diana, and after serving in that capacity 
for some time, he accepted the position of 
superintendent of the Speed Cement Mills, 
situated a mile north of SeUersburg, on 
the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapo- 
lis Railroad, where he is at this time em- 
ployed. He thoroughly understands the 
manufacture of hydraulic cement, and han- 
dles the Speed Mills with efficiency and 
economy. 

Mr. Cook was married in 1879 to Miss 
Ruth Hinton, daughter of Samuel Hinton, 
who is a native of Indiana. They have two 
living children — Sarah S. and David S. 

He is a prominent and efficient member 
of the Knights of Honor and also a member 
of the Stationary Engineers' Association. 
He has never been an office seeker. His 
whole ambition is to improve and elevate 
the laboring classes. He is one of our best 
and solid citizens, an energetic business 
man. His highest ambition is to do good 
in the world and to make others happy. 
He is domestic in his tastes ; surrounded at 
home by his young, intelligent family, he 
is contented and happy. 



EDWIN M. COOTS was born in Shelby 
county, Ky., January 3, 184-7. He was 
brought up on a farm and lived there a 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



farmer until 1 872, and during his scbool-boy 
days attended the common schools of his 
county, and acquired such limited educa- 
tion as they at that time afforded. He 
is the son of R. M. and Elizabeth (Morton) 
Coots, both natives of Shelby county, Ky., 
and are living on the old farm in Shelby 
county. 

In 18 72 Mr. Coots left the farm, and 
went to Harrisonville. Shelby county, and 
engaged in the undertaking business, and 
remained there about seven years, when 
he removed to Shelbyville and went into 
the furniture business in connection with 
the undertaking business, remaining the 
there one year. 

In December, 18S1, he came to Jeffer- 
sonville, Clark county, Indiana, and 
bought out the furniture and undertaking 
business of George C. Zinck, and went into 
business there, and has continued the 
business ever since. 

In September, 1882, Mr. Coots gradua- 
ted in the Cincinnati Embalming School, 
and about two weeks later embalmed the 
first corpse that was ever arterially em- 
balmed in Clark county, Indiana. 

At the November election, 1884-, Mr. 
Coots was elected coroner of Clark county, 
and has been re-elected every two years 
continously, and is now holding the office 
for the third term. He is a good solid Dem- 
ocrat, and he holds his office by reason of 
that fact, and because he is well qualified 
for the office and is a good clever gentle- 
man to back it. 

On the 1st of September, 1885, Mr. 
Coots entered into a copartnership in the 
furniture and undertaking business with 
Frank R. Willey, of Clark county, and 
they are now doing business under the firm 
name of "Coots & Willey." 

He was married in 1809 to Miss Nannie 
J. Fry, daughter of Froman Fry, of 



Shelby county, Ky ; they have two boys, 
Froman M. and Glover. He is a member 
of the Presbyterian Church and lives 
the life of a consistent Christian He is a 
member of the I. 0. 0. F., the K. & L. H. 
and the Secret League. He he a charter 
member of the Funeral Directors' Associa- 
tion of the Falls Cities, and also a member 
of the Indiana State Funeral Directors' 
Association. 

There are few better citizens than Mr. 
Coots. He is honest, straightforward, yet 
affable and. liberal in business, and those 
who deal with him will always find him to 
be a Christian gentleman. 



JESSE M. CRIM was born in Shelby 
county, Ky., Jan. 12, 1820. His father, 
Moses Crim, was also a native of Ken- 
tucky, and emigrated from that State and 
settled in Washington county, this State, 
some time about the year 182 1. His 
grandfather, Charles Crim, was killed by 
the Indians in one of their predatory ex- 
cursions to the settlements. The family 
is of German descent. His mother, Sarah 
Jacobs, was a daughter of Samuel Jacobs, 
who was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war. He was an early settler in the Indi- 
ana Territory and served as a ranger on 
the frontier service for a number of years. 

Mr. Crim was but a small boy when his 
father settled on his farm in Washington 
county, and there he was reared. Like 
all farmers' sons, as soon as he was of suf- 
ficient age, he was put to work in assist- 
ing in cultivating the farm. In those days 
schools were not so plentiful as they Are 
now, and a common-school education was 
not so easily obtained as now. All the 
schooling he got, however, was during the 
winter months when a three months' school 
was taught in the neighborhood and he 
could be spared from work on his father's 



CLARK COUNTY 



farm. The youths of those days had but 
poor opportunities to acquire school learn- 
ing, and it was precious little they got. 

Mr. Crim was married in 1848 to Miss 
Tilsie A. Littell, daughter of Absalom Lit- 
tell, who was born in Fayette county, Pa., 
in the year 17S8. In the latter part of 
the year 1799 Elder Absalom Littell of the 
Presbyterian Church, emigrated from his 
home in Pennsylvania to what was then 
the North West Territory, and settled on 
the west side of Silver Creek, now in Silver 
Creek Township, in Clark county, Indiana. 
At that time there were no purely Amer- 
ican settlements in all that vast territory 
stretching west to the Eocky Mountains, 
and only a few straggling settlements of 
French and mixed breeds connected with 
forts and military stations. 

Twelve months prior to the settlement 
of the Littells, as above stated, the first 
Protestant congregation within the present 
boundaries of the State was organized a 
few miles north of the Littell settlement, 
and the first house of worship was erected 
on Silver Creek, near the Littell farm. 
This was a regular Baptist Church. 

Absalom Littell, the grandfather of our 
subject's wife, was an earnest worker in 
the Presbyterian Church, and was promi- 
nent in organizing the first Presbyterian 
Church at Charlestown. 

The younger Littell was one of the pio- 
neer preachers of the county. He re- 
mained in the regular Baptist Church, 
preaching and laboring in the cause, until 
the division in the church, which was 
known in those days as Campbellites ; he 
then left the old regular church and went 
with the division that took the name of 
Christian, which now constitutes one of 
the largest and most efficient wings of the 
great Protestant Church of this country. 
He was baptized into the Baptist Church 



in 1S16. Mr. Crim and wife have five 
children, — Axie C, Mary E., Absalom L., 
Azro C. and Sarah T. A. Axie died when 
but eighteen months old, and Mary was 
eleven years. Sarah T. A. was married to 
L. W. Bobison, and died in her nineteenth 
year. 

Azro was born in 1851, was raised on a 
farm and educated in the common schools 
of the neighborhood, and was married 
June 17, 1875, to Miss Maggie Horna- 
day, daughter of Ezekiel Hornaday. The 
result of their union is a daughter, Lillie E. 

In 1876 Mr. Crim began working in the 
carpenter and joiner business, and is now 
prominent in these trades and is doing a 
good business in the prosperous town of 
Sellersburg. 

Mr. Littell, the father of Mrs. Crim, was 
quite a prominent man in the early settle- 
ment of Clark county. He was a surveyor, 
and made a map of Clark's Grant of land. 
He acted as a justice of the peace of his 
township for many years. He died May 
11, 1862, in the seventy-fourth year of 
age. Absalom L., our subject's second 
son, was born in 1859, raised on a farm, 
educated in the common schools of his 
township, and also went to school in Lex- 
ington, Ky., and attended Bible College, 
and studied for the ministry of the Chris- 
tian Church, and has labored in that cause 
for three years past. Was married in 
1879 to Miss Maggie Allen, daughter of 
George Allen, and have as the result of 
their union three living children, — Jesse 
W., Archie E. and Esda A. 



EEUBEN DAILEY was born hi Middle- 
sex comity, England, March 6, 1844, and 
is a son of Nicholas A. and Hannah Dailey. 
He was one of a family of nine children — 
eight boys and one girl. The family came 
to America in 1S48, and lived variously at 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



Cincinnati, Pittsburg and Newport, Ky. 
After the breaking out of the war he en- 
listed in Co. F., Fifth Ohio Infantry, and 
served three years and two months. 

He commenced as a journalist in 1865, 
in Memphis, Tenn., which he continued 
about three and a half years, when he 
severed his connection with the press there 
and came to Louisville. In 1869 he be- 
came reporter of the Courier-Journal for 
New Albany and Jeffersonville. He read 
law for a period of eighteen months, and 
then bought the Democrat, of Jeffersonville. 

In November, 1872, he started the Even- 
ing News in a hand-bill form, about 6x10 
inches. It was the first daily paper pub- 
lished in Jeffersonville, and is still con- 
ducted by Mr. Dailey. He was married 
December 26, 1S65, to Miss Ann Eliza 
Devinney, at Newport, Ky. They have 
two children living. 



DANIEL DOUGHERTY was born in 
Ireland, February 6, 1S40. He was 
brought to the United States in 1849, by 
his parents, who emigrated to this country 
at that time, and located in the city of 
Louisville, Ky. He attended the public 
schools in Louisville until he arrived at the 
age of sixteen years, when he was apprenticed 
to learn the plumbing business, but before 
he had completed his time the firm with 
whom he had engaged went to St. Louis, 
Mo., and he went with them and remained 
with them until he had completed his 
trade. He then returned to Louisville, and 
in 1859 took a position as engineer and 
general mechanic at the Louisville Chemi- 
cal Works. In this occupation he con- 
tinued about four years. In 1863 a large 
hospital for sick and wounded soldiers was 
established by the Government on the Ohio 
river, above the city of Jeffersonville, and 
Mr. Dougherty did the plumbing work for 



the Government. After that work was 
completed, he was sent to Nashville, Tenn., 
employed in the same kind of work for the 
Government. Remaining there only a short 
time he returned to the city of Louisville, 
and in 1864 went to work for the Louis- 
ville Gas Company. In 1865, at the close 
of the war, he went to Huntsville, Ala., 
and accepted a position as superintendent 
of the water works of that city, which he 
held for one year, when he again returned 
to Louisville, and took employment under 
the Gas Company, which he held for about 
six years. In 1S72 he was induced to 
accept of the position of superintendent of 
the Gas Works at Bowling Green, and re- 
moved to that city. He remained there, in 
that position over seven years, when he re- 
signed it. In the fall of 1S81 he came to 
Jeffersonville and took charge, as superin- 
tendent, of the Jeffersonville Gas Works, 
and has continued as such ever since. 

He is the son of John and Mary (Mul- 
lens) Dougherty, both natives of Ireland. 
His father died in 1873, at the age of sev- 
enty-two years. His mother died in 1857, 
at the age of fifty-four years. 

Mr. Dougherty was married in 1864 to 
Miss Ellen McCarthy, of Louisville, Ky., 
daughter of Dennis McCarthy. They have 
eight children, three boys and five girls — 
Maggie E., Daniel J., Mary Adell, Lau- 
rence, Benjamin, Annie E., Clara and 
Grace. He and his household are mem- 
bers of St. Augustine Catholic Church, Rev. 
Ernest Andran, rector. 



LAURENT AUGUSTUS DOUGLAS was 

bom in the city of New Albany, Floyd 
county, Ind., October 15, 1857. He is 
the son of Laurent C. Douglas, a native of 
the State of Connecticut, and Charlotte W. 
(Lampton) Douglas, a native of Jefferson- 



io 



CLARK COUNTY 



ville, and daughter of Capt. Geo. W. 
Lampton, a distinguished steamhoat cap- 
tain and river man, an old and highly 
respected and esteemed citizen of the city 
of Jeffersonville. He was a native of Cul- 
peper county, Va., and came to Louisville, 
Ky., with his uncle Mark Lampton at an 
early day and settled there. He was cap- 
tain on the river for many years , and was 
owner as well as master of the steamhoat 
Echo. He died in the city of Jeffersonville. 
He represented the First Ward of Jefferson- 
ville in the City Council for six years, from 
1859 to 1805. 

Laurent A. Douglas' father removed to 
the city of Jeffersonville, and brought 
his family with him, and here he 
obtained his education in the public 
schools of the city. He read law in the 
law office of Col. James B. Merriwether, in 
Jeffersonville, and then entered the Law 
Department of the Louisville University, 
from which he graduated in the spring of 
1883. He immediately opened an office 
and began the practice of law in the 
courts of the county. Taken into consid- 
eration the fact that, in entering the list 
for a share of the legal business of the 
county', he was met at the threshold with 
old and established practitioners as rivals 
in business, he has succeeded well and has 
established himself as a safe and reliable 
attorney who may be safely intrusted with 
any intricate or difficult law matters for 
settlement. He has associated with him 
William D. Marshall, and they are now 
practicing in the courts under the firm 
name of Douglas & Marshall. 

Mr. Douglas was married to Miss Caro- 
line E. Fessler, of the city of Madison, 
December 6, 1883, and two children are 
the result of the union. 

He is an honored member of the Order of 
the Knights of Pythias and has held all- 



the offices in the Lodge, and is a member 
of the Presbyterian Church. 



H. D. DOW was born in this (Clark) 
county, April 19, 1824, and is a son of 
Henry and Mercy (Kinney) Dow, natives of 
Connecticut, the former born in Plainfield, 
Conn., May 13, 1794, came to Indiana 
in 1818, and settled in this county, 
and engaged in farming. He served 
several years as town trustee — was a sol- 
dier in the war of 1S12, and a corporal. 
He died in 1873, at an advanced age. Mercy 
Dow died in July, 1874. His father, Henry 
Dow, came to Indiana, was a farmer, ran a 
carding machine for many years. Under 
the old militia laws of the State, he was 
captain of a company. He died in 1841. 
The subject of this sketch was educated in 
the common schools. He farmed until two 
years ago, when, in company with Mr. Geo. 
W. Martin, he erected a mill for sawing, 
making boxes, and grinding corn meal, un- 
der the firm of Dow & Martin. He was 
married in 1844 to Elizabeth A. Baggerly, 
a daughter of Jonathan A. Baggerly, of Jef- 
ferson county, Ky. He was a farmer, and 
came to this State in 1818, and settled in 
this county. His wife, Cassandre Bailey, 
was a native of Shelbyville, Ky. They had 
nine children, six of whom are living, viz : 
Laura A., Milburn, George W., Alice, Mary 
A. and Lizzie C. Subject's father had nine 
children, viz : Hannah, Martha E., Lucy, 
Sallie N., Bhoda, Lyda, Bebecca, James, 
Emily and H. D., the subject of this sketch. 
Lucy, Bhoda and Emily are now deceased. 
Mr. Dow is a member of the Christian Church 
and of the Bepublican party. He rented 
his farm in 1888, and formed a partnership 
with George W. Martin in the manufactur- 
ing of lumber, etc. The firm is Dow & Mar- 
tin, New Providence, Ind. 






SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



11 



JUDGE CHARLES P. FERGUSON, a 
native of Indiana, was born on his father's 
farm, two and a half miles from the town 
and the old county-seat of Clark county, 
Charlestown, on the 10th November, 1824. 
His father, Benjamin Ferguson, was a Vir- 
ginian by birth, a lawyer by profession, and 
came to Clark county at an early day in 
its history, and practiced his profession, 
often serving as a member of the State leg- 
islature and was elected Associate Judge of 
the county. Under the old constitution 
there were two Associate Judges elected for 
each county, who occupied the Bench with 
the Circuit, or President Judge, whom he 
consulted in relation to his decisions. 

Judge Benjamin Ferguson held this po- 
sition for seven years, having in 1820 re- 
moved to his farm near the Ohio river, where 
the present Judge Ferguson was afterward 
born. He was a great student and gave 
much of his time to books. 

Judge Ferguson's mother was Sarah Hay, 
a native of Clark county and the daughter 
of Samuel Hay, who was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Harrison, in the organization of the 
first court in Clark county, in 1801, its 
first sheriff and assisted in organizing the 
first court in Clark county, which met in 
solemn conclave at the county seat, at 
Springville, on the 7th day of April, 1801, 
as the court of general quarter sessions of 
the peace. He was a South Carolinian by 
birth. The descendants ofthis first sheriff 
of Clark county are numerous and some of 
them stand very high in community. The 
last sheriff of Clark county, Charles S. Hay, 
is a grandson of the first sheriff, Samuel 
Hay. 

Judge Charles P. Ferguson was princi- 
pally educated in the high schools of Charles 
town. His first occupation was in a print- 
ing office and for a short time was a teacher 
in the county seminary. At the session of 



1845-6 of our State legislature he received 
an appointment of assistant to the clerk 
of House of Representatives, and spent 
the winter at Indianapolis during the ses- 
sion. 

Returning home to become deputy clerk 
to Eli McCauley, clerk of the Clark Circuit 
Court, and read law at the same time. Up- 
on examination was admitted to practice 
in the Clark county courts. He continued 
to act as deputy clerk until 1850, when he 
was elected clerk as the successor to his 
chief, who was not a candidate. He was 
re-elected to be his own successor at the 
end of his first term, the former clerk, Mr. 
McCauley, being also a candidate. After 
•retiring from the clerk's office he engaged 
actively in the practice of the law and soon 
had a large and growing practice. 

In 1860 he was elected a State Senator 
from the Senatorial District composed of 
the counties of Clark and Scott, and served 
the State in that capacity for four years, — 
four of the most eventful years that ever 
occurred to this, or in fact to any other, 
nation in the history of the world ; four 
years of rebellion and civil war on a gi- 
gantic scale. Indiana played a leading 
part in that grand event, and Judge Fergu- 
son, as one of her Senators, assisted in the 
work. 

The Judge all this time, except during 
the sittings of the Legislature, devoted 
himself to the practice of the law until 
1873, when he was elected Common Pleas 
Judge to serve four years, but after serv- 
ing a few months the office was abolished 
and its duties merged into that of the Cir- 
cuit Judge. He again returned to the 
practice of the law, and associated with 
him a rising young lawyer of ability and 
prominence, James K. Marsh, Esq., who 
had been Prosecuting Attorney for the 
Judicial Circuit for a number of years. 



12 



CLARK COUNTY 



The firm of Ferguson & Marsh was a 
strong team, and they got a large practice. 
This continued until 1880, when Judge Fer- 
guson was elected Judge of the Clark Cir- 
cuit Court for a term of six years, which 
expired in 1886, when he was again elected 
to he his own successor, which term will 
not expire until 1892. It is a most difficult 
because a delicate matter to write the true 
history of a living man, giving to the pub- 
lic a full and true statement of his mental, 
moral and social standing in the commu- 
nity in which he lives. There is danger of 
being accused of fulsome flattery on the one 
side, or of detraction from bias or prejudice 
on the other. But this much can be said of 
Judge Ferguson, without any fear of the 
imputation of unworthy motives : He is an 
honest Judge and the people's rights are 
safe in his hands. He may not be as brill- 
iant as some ; not so ready to pronounce 
judgment in a case upon the evidence pre- 
sented. He is patient in investigation and, 
it may be, slow to arrive at conclusions, but 
when he does his judgment is very apt to 
be correct and stand the test of a review by 
a higher court of appeals. But perhaps the 
best test of the public appreciation of Judge 
Ferguson's ability as a Judge and his great 
moral and social standing in his Judicial 
Circuit, at the command of his biographer, 
is to refer his readers to the simple fact that 
after serving them one full term for six 
years the people re-elected him for six more, 
over one of the oldest and most popular 
lawyers and an old predecessor and ex-mem- 
ber of Congress, by a largely increased ma- 
jority. Let this fact suffice for the present, 
and let the people's judgment stand until 
the people themselves shall reverse it. 

Judge Ferguson was, on the 28th of No- 
vember, 1851, married to Miss Samantha 
Henderson, a daughter of Thomas W. Hen- 
derson, of Charlestown, Ind., a native of the 



State of Kentucky and a manufacturer of 
truss hoops for coopers. The Judge's good 
wife has borne him seven children, six boys 
and one girl, — Charles S., who is the Jef- 
fersonville correspondent for the Louisville 
Courier- Journal; Walter H., conductor on 
the Louisville, St. Louis & Texas ; Harry 
T., book-keeper at the First National Bank, 
Jeffersonville ; John I)., Deputy in the Clerk's 
office of the Clark Circuit Court ; Otto W., 
at Williamsburg, Ky., in a law office ; How- 
ard G., in Citizens' National Bank ; Mamie, 
at home attending school. 



DB. WILLIAM D. FOUTS was born in 
Lexington, Scott county, Ind., October 7, 
1832. He was the son of Angus and Mary 
(Bowels) Fouts. His father, Angus Fouts, 
was a native of the State of North Carolina. 
His father's family were of German origin, 
and his father was a farmer and emigrated 
to this State and located in Scott county 
in 1826, and continued to reside there until 
1851, when he died. His mother's father, 
Wm. Bowels, was also an early settler in 
Scott county. Dr. Fouts, like other boys 
of that early age, was sent to such common 
schools as were taught in the village until 
he became advanced and was sent to the 
New Washington Seminary in Clark county. 
After completing his literary education 
there, at the age of nineteen he commenced 
reading medicine under the instruction of 
Dr. A. A. Morrison, of Lexington. After 
finishing the preparatory course with Dr. 
Morrison in 1847, he entered the Medical 
Department of the University of Louisville, 
and at the end of the second course gradu- 
ated with honor. In 1852 he began the 
practice of his profession at Lexington, Ind., 
and continued in that practice until 1862, 
when he joined the Slst Keg. Ind. Vols, as 
Assistant Surgeon, and was afterward pro- 
moted to that of Chief Surgeon. Served 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



13 



eighteen months as Chief Surgeon to the 
Regiment, serving in all three years. At 
the battle of Chickamauga he was captured 
and sent as prisoner of war to that cele- 
brated Libby prison at Richmond, Va., 
where he was confined five months and 
fifteen days. At the close of the war he 
returned to his old home, Lexington, and 
recommenced the practice of medicine. He 
remained in his practice there until 1871, 
when he removed to Jeffersonville, and 
commenced practice there, and has re- 
mained in that city ever since, with a con- 
stant increase of practice until he has the 
largest of any doctor in the city. He is a 
member of the City Council from the 
second ward and is now serving out his 
fourth term ; he is now serving as chairman 
of two of the most important committees, 
that of Fire Department and on Railroads. 
In 1885 he was appointed by the Pension 
Bureau as a Pension Examiner, and is still 
on that Board. He is Surgeon for the J. 
M. & I. Railroad Company and for the Ohio 
Falls Car Company. 

He was married to Miss Ellen Louchran, 
of Lexington, Ind. Of their children, 
only one son, Dr. William K. Fouts, 
is living, who is now in partnership with 
his father in the practice of medicine. He 
is a member of the Knights of Honor and 
of the Knights and Ladies of Honor. 

Dr. Fouts stands in high esteem in the 
community in which he lives and is re- 
spected by all who know him. 



JACOB S. FRY is a native of Clark 
county, Ind., was born Nov. 27, 1844, and 
was brought up on a farm in Utica township, 
where he received such education as the 
public schools of that township, at that 
time, afforded. Afterward he attended the 
High School in the city of New Albany. 



He continued to live on the farm until 1888, 
when he came to the city of Jeffersonville 
and engaged inthe grain and feed business 
under the firm name of J. S. Fry & Co., 
in which business he is still engaged. Mr. 
Fry was a farmer all his life, until in 1882 
he was nominated by the Democratic party 
of his county as the candidate for County 
Treasurer, and was elected. Again in 
1884 he was re-elected, and served in that 
capacity for four years, and retired in 
honor from his office. Mr. Fry owns one 
of the finest and most valuable farms in 
Utica township, the township of fine farms, 
of 250 acres of choice land, well stocked and 
improved, which of itself is a fortune to 
any man who knows how to handle it. He 
is a large landholder in the State of Kan- 
sas, owning there a thousand acres of fine 
land. He owns valuable property in the 
city of Jeffersonville. He built himself a fine 
frame residence in the north end of the city, 
in which he now resides. He is one of the 
most substantial men in his county. As a 
farmer he was one of the largest and most 
successful, in connection with which he 
traded largely in buying and selling stock 
and made much money. He is considered 
one of the wealthy men of his county. 
Mr. Fry is the son of John and Sarah E. 
(Swartz) Fry. His father was a native of 
Jefferson county, Ky., and came to Indiana 
about 1820. He was a prominent farmer 
in Clark county, and died in 1886 at the age 
83 years. His mother was a native of 
Clark county, Ind., and died in 1881, at the 
age of 78 years. He was married in 1866 
to Miss Sarah E., daughter of W. Fletcher 
Robinson, a prominent farmer of Utica 
township. They have five children, all 
boys — John R., Otis, Arthur and Ellis H. 
Mr. Fry is an upright man, a good citizen, 
a member of the Christian Church, and is 
highly respected by all who know him. 



14 



CLARK COUNTY 



There are but few, if any, better citizens 
than Jacob S. Fry. 



DE. FRANKLIN B. M. GILBERT, Sb., 
was bom in Hardin county, Ky., October 
27, 1823. He came to Indiana with his 
father when only five years of age, and 
located on a farm in Jackson county in 
1828. He remained on the farm in Jack- 
son county until he was 19 years of age, 
when he went to live with his brother-in- 
law in Jefferson county, Ky., and there 
worked on a farm in the spring and sum- 
mer and attended school in Louisville during 
the winter until 18-14, when he returned 
to Jackson county and engaged in farming. 

In 1849 he came to Jefferson ville and 
went into the grocery business and contin- 
ued in it until 1858. He then pulled up 
stakes and moved to Cooper count}', Mo., 
and engaged in farming until 1S63, and 
while there, Little Jeff Davis' army camped 
upon his farm and cleaned him out com- 
pletely — took his meat, grain and every- 
thing he had on his farm that was worth 
taking. After that he thought it about 
time to leave there; nor did he consider 
long the order of his going, but he pulled 
up and left at once, and again came back 
to old Jeffersonville. And there, looking 
round for something to do, he chose the 
livery business, and entered into that. He 
continued in it until 1874, when he again 
changed his location, this time to Indian- 
apolis, as it was about that time enjoying 
a tremendous boom, and the bubble had 
not yet burst, which it did soon after. 

In 1878 he came back to old Jefferson- 
ville and again opened up a livery stable, 
and has continued here in the same busi- 
ness ever since. He is doing well, having 
built up a profitable trade, and keeps con- 
stantly on hand the best and handsomest 
turnouts in the city. He don't think now 



that he will ever be induced to break up 
again to hunt a boom. 

Mr. Gilbert was married in 1842 to Miss 
Elizabeth Jane Eeynolds, of Pulaski county, 
Ky. She was born in Eussell county, Ky., 
October 9, 1826. They have seven living 
children, four boys and three girls : Frank- 
lin E. M., Jr., James L., Theodore L., Aubry 
C, Cynthiann, Laura and Holland. 

During his long experience in the man- 
agement and care of horses in connection 
with the livery business, he has by close 
observation and study acquired a practical 
knowledge of the diseases to which horses 
and cattle are subject, and the remedies 
best calculated to effect a cure. He has 
acquired quite a reputation in the commu- 
nity as a successful veterinarian in the 
care of sick animals. 



JOHN A. GEAHAM is a native to the 
manor born He was born in Clark county, 
Ind., March 2S, 1853. His father, William 
Graham, was a prominent farmer near New 
Washington, in the upper or northeastern 
part of Clark county. He was a native of 
Westmoreland county, Pa., and emigrated 
to Indiana when quite a young man. He 
died May 11, 1873, at the age of fifty-five 
years. His mother, Catherine G. Graham, 
nee Patterson, is a native of Clark county, 
Ind., and is living with her children in Jef- 
fersonville. 

Mr. John A. Graham, after finishing 
his education and leaving school, became 
a partner in the firm of "Graham & Bro." 
in the drug business in the city of Jeffer- 
sonville. His partner was his brother, Dr. 
Thomas A. Graham. He and his brother 
continued together in the drug business, 
doing a large and prosperous business, until 
March 1, 18S6, when he bought his 
brother's interest in the business, and be- 
came sole proprietor and owner of it. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



15 



The success in business which this firm 
has achieved in building up a large and 
flourishing trade in the city and surround- 
ing country, is a practical illustration of 
what pluck and energy will do. 

Mr. Graham was married May 11, 
1886, to Miss Cora B. Fry, second daughter 
of Abraham Fry, a wealthy farmer of Utica 
township in Clark county, and a director 
in the First National Bank in the city of 
■Jeffersonville. He became a communicant 
in the Presbyterian Church at an early age, 
and remains a member of that church in 
good standing. He is a member of Eureka 
Lodge No. 3, of the Knights of Honor, and 
served as treasurer of this Lodge for five 
years ; and is treasurer of the Union Sav- 
ings and Loan Association. 



J. J. HAWS was born in Clark county, 
Ind., in the year 183S. His father Isaac 
Haws, was bom in the State of New York 
in 1S09, and came to Indiana with his par- 
ents when about fifteen years old, and 
settled in Clark county, where he has re- 
sided ever since. His mother was Eliza- 
beth B. McGuire, daughter of Joseph Mc- 
Guire. 

Mr. Haws was raised on a farm, and 
brought up to do farm work from his earli- 
est boyhood ; and all the education he ever 
received was by attending the public schools 
taught during the winter months when 
farm work was slack. At the age of seven- 
teen he left the farm and went to railroad- 
ing and followed it for twenty-four years. 
Filled various positions on the trains ; for 
the greater portion of that time that of 
conductor. 

In 1879 he quit the railroad and went to 
merchandizing, and opened a general store 
in the town Memphis, twelve miles north 
of Jeffersonville, on the Jeffersonville, 
Madison & Indianpolis Railroad. He con- 



tinued in the mercantile business, and in 
1887 he launched out into a new business 
in this section and established what is 
known in the community as the Silver 
Creek Creamery, making some two hundred 
pounds of creamery butter daily. The 
business is yet in its infancy. He has 
sufficient capacity to manufacture a thou- 
sand pounds of creamery butter daily, and 
he expects in time to do it. He owns and 
operates a stave factory, a cooper shop and 
a saw-mill, and gives constant employment, 
in the various departments of his extensive 
business to a large number of hands. In 
addition to his other numerous and diversi- 
fied businesses, he owns a farm of three hun- 
dred and sixty acres of well improved land. 
It will be seen and readily acknowledged 
that he is one of the most energetic and 
best business men in the county. Other 
men may have heaped up more money and 
may be considered richer, but Mr. Haws 
puts his money in such business as to give 
his neighbors and laboring men employ- 
ment, and thus scatters blessings all 
around him. Such a man as J. J. Haws is 
a blessing to any community. 

Mr. Haws was married on the 31st day 
of December, 1863, to Miss Mary B. Diets, 
daughter of Thompson Diets, a native of 
Indiana, but of German descent. No chil- 
dren have come into their home to bless 
them. 

He has served the people of his township 
as Township Trustee, and as a good busi- 
ness man will always make a good public 
officer. Mr. Haws filled the office of Trustee 
in a manner creditable to himself and ac- 
ceptable to the public. 



GEORGE HOLZBOG is a native of 
Germany, born October 24, 1823. He 
came to the United States in 1849, and 
located in Louisville, Ky., remaining there 



16 



CLARK COUNTY 



only two years, when in 1852 he removed 
to JeffersonviUe, where he now resides, and 
started a blacksmith and wagon manufac- 
turing establishment, having served an ap- 
prenticeship and thoroughly learned the 
blacksmith business in Germany. He has 
continued in the same business ever since. 

He and his son, George H., whom he 
took in as a partner in the business in 
1882, under the firm name of George Holz- 
bog & Son, have built up a large manu- 
facturing establishment, and are doing a 
large business. 

He was married in 1854, in Jefferson- 
viUe, Ind., to Miss Fannie E. Schneck, of 
Germany. They have four living children, 
three boys and one girl : George H., Henry 
J., Alfred W. and Sophia. Sophia is mar- 
ried to William F. Siebert, Jr., of Jeffer- 
sonviUe, who is in the grocery business in 
JeffersonviUe, Ind. Geo. H. Holzbog, his 
oldest son, is, as stated above, a partner in 
his father's business. The other two sons 
are still at home. 

He is among the best class of our Ger- 
man-American citizens. It requires in 
any community just such citizens to build 
it up and make it prosperous. Jefferson- 
viUe would be greatly improved in its 
material industries, if it had many more 
just such men. He is an Odd Fellow, and 
he and his son, George H., are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



JONAS GEORGE HOWARD, ex-mem- 
ber of Congress, third district, and lawyer 
at Jeffersonville.was born in Floyd County, 
near the then village of New Albany, May 
22, 1825. His father, James Howard, was 
a substantial farmer of Clark county, In- 
diana, whither he had emigrated from 
Champlain county, Vermont, in 1816. His 
mother, Margaret (Helmer) Howard was 
was a native of Herkimer county, New 



York, where she removed with her parents 
to Indiana early in the history of the 
State. In the common and select schools, 
Mr. Howard obtained his early education. 
In his twentieth year he entered Asbury 
University, Greeneastle, Indiana, where 
three years he pursued a scientific 
course. He then read law with Mr. John 
F. Read, of JeffersonviUe, and in 1851, re- 
ceived his certificate of graduation in the 
Law Department of the Indiana State Uni- 
versity, at Bloomington, having previously 
taken one course in Law Department at the 
University of Louisville. 

In 1852,Mr. Howard was admitted to the 
bar, and since time has devoted himself as- 
siduously to the practice of his profesion. 
His career as a lawyer has been marked 
with unqualified success; he ranks high as 
a counselor at the bar and is highly re- 
garded by his associates in the profes- 
sion. In numerous important cases 
he has been honored by an appointment 
from the Judge of his district to render 
judgment, and his decisions have always 
commanded the highest respect. 

In 1862 and 1864 he was elected to rep- 
resent his district in the State legislature, 
on the Democratic ticket. In 1868 he was 
chosen presidential elector, and bore an able 
and effective part in canvassing the State 
for the Democratic candidates. In 1876 
he was again called upon to take a place 
on the electoral ticket, and again his voice 
was heard in the field in support of his 
•andidates and their principles. He has 
always taken a lively interest in polities but 
has generally declined the cares of official 
positions, until in 1884 he was chosen by 
the Democratic party of the third congres- 
sional district as their candidate for con- 
gress and was accordingly elected at the No- 
vember election following, and took his seat 
in the Forty-Ninth Congress, and was re- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



17 



elected to the Fiftieth Congress in 1886. 
As a member of Congress, Mr. Howard 
was a hard worker and supported every 
measure that he regarded was to the peo- 
ple's interest. 

On November 23, 1854, Mr. Howard 
married Miss Martha J. Roswell, daughter 
of James and Drusilla Roswell, of Clark 
county, Ind. She died February 19, 1872, 
leaving three children. September 8, 1873, 
Mr. Howard married Miss Elizabeth Ros- 
well, sister of his former wife, by whom he 
has one child. 



COL. JOHN N. INGRAM was born in 
Jefferson county, Ind., Nov. 29, 1825. His 
father, James Ingram, was a native of Old- 
ham county, Ky, and came over and settled 
in Jefferson county, Ind., in 1816, the year 
the State was admitted into the Union. 
His father was a prominent farmer of his 
county, and died in 1826, at the age of 
thirty- six years. His mother, Nancy 
(Austin) Ingram, died in 1866. Col. In- 
gram was brought up upon his father's 
farm, doing farm work and getting such 
education as was afforded by the common 
schools of the county at that time, during 
his boyhood days. After the battle of Palo 
Alto and Raseca de la Palma and the Con- 
gress had declared war against the Repub- 
lic of Mexico in 1846, he entered as a pri- 
vate in Company G, in the Third Regiment 
of Indiana Volunteers for twelve months, 
under Col. James H. Lane. While in the 
service he was in the celebrated battle of 
Buena Vista, where old Santa Ana, the 
Mexican General, with his twenty-two 
thousand regular troops, was so gloriously 
whipped by less than one-fourth of that 
number of raw militia. This battle made 
General Taylor its commander and hero 
President in 1848. After he had served 
out his full time he was sent home with his 



Regiment, and honorably discharged in 
1847. At the time of his enlistment he 
was still an apprentice to the tanner's trade, 
and as soon as he was returned to civil life 
he went back and served out the full term 
of his apprenticeship. In 1S48 he came to 
Jeffersonville and engaged in the tanning 
business, and has continued in that busi- 
ness until this time, and has succeeded 
fairly well in establishing a paying invest- 
ment in it. His year's service in the Mexi- 
can war gave him a fancy for military ser- 
vice, and in 1859, two years before the Re- 
bellion, he organized, and was elected its 
captain, a company of Independent Militia. 
In 1862, when it was thought that it was 
necessary to establish home protection 
against rebel raids, Col. Ingram was 
authorized by Gov. Morton to organize a 
regiment, to be known as the Indiana Le- 
gion, of which he was appointed colonel, so 
it will be seen that he is legitimately en- 
titled to the honorable prefix of Colonel to 
his name. He has always been quite 
prominent in the management and admin- 
istration of the municipal affairs of the city 
of Jeffersonville. He was elected in 1856 
to the Common Council from the Second 
Ward and served two years. In 1865 he 
was elected a member of the Common 
Council from the First Ward and served 
two years, and again from the same ward 
from 1S77 to 1879. He has always had 
the confidence of the people. He has 
always taken the greatest interest in the 
public schools of his city. He was elected 
school trustee in 1863, and has continu- 
ously held it ever since, by re-election 
every three years, and has been treasurer 
during most, if not all, of that time. He 
is also one of the trustees of the Walnut 
Ridge Cemetery, He is one of the charter 
members of Tabor Lodge, No. 92, 
I. 0. 0. F., and is also a member of the 



18 



CLARK COUNTY 



Golden Cross. He is a member of the 
Wall Street Methodist Episcopal Church of 
his city, and is now, and has been for 
thirty years, one of its stewards. He has 
been a member of the Methodist Church 
for over forty-four years. Col. Ingram was 
married in 1850 to Miss Margaret E. Mc- 
Gonnigal, of Clark county, Ind. They have 
four living children, — James A., John D., 
Libbie and Ella. James A. is an employe 
in the Quarter Master's Depot in Jefferson- 
ville, John D. is a clerk in the office of the 
Ohio Falls Car Company, Ella is the wife 
of Frank B. Willey of the firm of Coots & 
Willey, in the furniture and undertaking 
business. Daniel McGonnigal, the father 
of Mrs. Ingram, was born in 1800, and is 
now in the 89th year of his age. He re- 
sides in the family of Col. Ingram and has 
since the year 1S63. He is hearty, and 
frequently walks to the city over a mile's 
distance. He cast his first presidential 
vote for General Jackson in 1824, when he 
was defeated by a combination of Adams 
and Clay, and has voted the Democratic 
ticket for every Democratic candidate since. 
He is a native of Pennsylvania and came 
to Indiana in 1834, and, being a carpenter 
and car builder, built the first car that 
ever ran over the J., M. & I. Road. 

Col. Ingram is one of the very best citi- 
zens in the community where he resides. 
His heart is in the right place and his 
hand is ever open to the suffering and the 
needy. 

WILLIAM S. JACOBS was born on his 
father's farm in Utica township, Clark 
county, Ind., Nov. IS, 1823, and lived 
there with his father and worked on the 
farm during the crop season. Was sent 
to the common school of his district. Dur- 
ing the years 1846 and 1847 he attended 
Asbury University — now the DePauw Uni- 



versity — at Greencastle, Ind. He was a 
classmate of Hon. Daniel W.Voorhees, who 
is now a United States Senator from the 
State of Indiana, and John W. Bay, of 
Indianapolis, who is treasurer of the De- 
Pauw University. After leaving school he 
returned home and taught a district school 
for two years. How many of our business 
men commenced life by teaching school 
until they acquired their profession or 
uutil something more promising in the way 
of profits turned up. 

On November 19, 1847, the twenty-fourth 
anniversary of his birth, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Zerelda E. Thompson, the 
daughter of Joshua Thompson, one of the 
earliest settlers of Silver Creek township, 
and one of its most prominent farmers, 
and died at the advanced age of ninety- 
one years. Her mother was of the Bed- 
man family, who was of a prominent fam- 
ily in this county at that time. In the 
fall of 1848 he moved to Jefferson ville and 
engaged as a clerk for W. &H. Mabury, who 
were leading grocerymen here at that time 
and were active and prominent in getting 
the J., M. & I. Bailroad here. He contin- 
ued with this firm some eighteen months, 
after which, in 1850, he entered a copart- 
nership with Benjamin F. Dyer and com- 
menced the grocery business under the 
firm name of Jacobs & Dyer. This firm 
lasted and continued in business for ten 
and one-half years, when it dissolved and 
sold out to Meyers & Twomey. 

At this time the War of the Bebellion 
was being waged with vigor, which neces- 
sitated a great deal of transferring of goods 
and materials of war between the two sec- 
tions, and he thought he saw a good open- 
ing, and entered into the transfer business 
between the J., M. & I. Railroad and Lou- 
isville parties. He established an inde- 
pendent transfer of packet wagons line 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



19 



between the railroads and Louisville and 
he did a big business, and made large prof- 
its. The transfer business continued good 
until after the construction of the Louis- 
ville and Jeffersonville bridge, when the 
cars were run over the bridge directly to 
Louisville. He, however, continued in the 
transfer business until 1875. In this year, 
on the 23d day of August, he bought out 
Leviston Patterson's coal business and 
went into that, and has been in it ever 
since, doing as large a coal business as 
any other firm in the city. Whatever Mr. 
Jacobs undertakes he gives it his close and 
vigilant attention, and he makes it a suc- 
cess. 

He has but one living son, Emmons B. 
Jacobs, who is a clerk with him in the coal 
trade. He is a married man and resides 
in the city of Jeffersonville. He had a 
son, Charles E. Jacobs, who died in March, 
1882, leaving a wife and a daughter. His 
son's widow was Jennie Smart and her 
daughter's name is Mary E. They are 
now residing at Indianapolis. 

He is a member of the Methodist Church, 
and has been since he was sixteen years 
old. He is an active member of the Wall 
Street Church of this city, and has taken 
a prominent part in its success, having 
acted, for many years, as a member of its 
official board, and is now treasurer of the 
Wall Street Sunday-school. He has been 
a member of an Odd Fellows Lodge since 
1851, and has been treasurer of his lodge 
for over thirty years, and was in considera- 
tion of their high appreciation of his ser- 
vices presented with a gold-headed cane 
by his lodge in 1871. He is also a mem- 
ber of Bain Commandery of the Golden 
Cross. 

William S. Jacobs is a son of Solomon 
and Elizabeth (Swartz) Jacobs, both of 
whom are natives of Clark county. His 



Grandfather Jacobs was a native of the 
State of Maryland, but came from North 
Carolina to Clark county, Ind., in 1801, 
when the Great Northwest was yet little 
better than a vast wilderness. He was a 
brick moulder by trade, and he manufac- 
tured brick in Louisville, Ky., in 1801 and 
1802. He died in 1824. He raised a 
large family of children, mostly boys, who 
settled on farms in Utica township, in the 
neighborhood where they were raised, mak- 
ing, of themselves, quite a settlement. His 
father, Solomon Jacobs, one of the large 
family of brothers, became a prominent 
farmer of the county and died in 185G or 
1857, at the age of 66 years. His mother, 
surviving her aged companion but a short 
time, died in 1858 or 1859, at the same 
age, that of 66 years. His Grandfather 
Swartz was a native of Pennsylvania and 
came to Indiana in 1812, and was a farm- 
er of Utica township. He was killed by 
a runaway team, where Port Fulton, Ind., 
is now located, in 1824 or 1825. He was 
thrown from the saddle horse with such 
violence that he was killed. His father, 
Solomon Jacobs, was said to be a natural 
mechanic, and was a local preacher in the 
Methodist Church. He would cultivate 
his farm during the week, and would 
preach to his neighbors on Sundays when 
the circuit preacher was not present. In 
those days the people were not accommo- 
dated with regular preaching of the gospel 
by the regular ministry, every service, 
every Sabbath. The itinerancy of the 
Methodist minister at that time was a re- 
ality, and the itinerants could only get 
round to their scattered charges sometimes 
only once a month, their circuits were so 
large, and local preaching became a relig- 
ious necessity. 

Mr. Jacobs is one of the foremost men 
of his city in the promotion of the inter- 



20 



CLARK COUNTY 



ests of the city and the hest interests of 
the community. He is a good business 
man and does business on the square. 



JOHN ALBERT JENKINS was born 
in the city of New Albany, Ind., Floyd 
county, on the 12th of June, 1856. He is 
the son of John W. Jenkins and Mahala 
Jenkins, of Clark county, Ind., and of Breck- 
enridge county, Ky. His grandfather 
Jenkins emigrated from Virginia to this 
county early in the present century. 

He had served as a soldier in the Revolu- 
tionary War, and helped to achieve the 
independence of this country. He settled 
in Silver Creek township, near the present 
village of Hamburg. His father, John W. 
Jenkins, resided in the city of New Albany, 
where he carried on the shoemaker's trade, 
where he died in 1859. 

Subsequently his family removed to Clark 
county, and lived on a farm near the town 
of Sellersburg, a village on the J., M. & I. 
R. R. about nine miles north of the city of 
Jeffersonville. In the public schools of 
Silver Creek township, and later in the 
public schools of the city of Jeffersonville, 
he acquired all the education he received. 
He resided in the territory of Dakota dur- 
ing the years 1879 and 1880. 

On the 15th day of December, 1880, he 
was married to Miss Dollie Ogden, daughter 
of B. A. Ogden, Esq., of the city of Jeffer- 
sonville. Four children have been born to 
them, two of whom are living. In IS SO 
he went into the office, a clerk of the Louis- 
ville & Nashville Railroad, and remained 
in its employ until 188-4. In that year he 
received the appointment of deputy, under 
John L. Delahunt, auditor of Clark county, 
and served in that capacity for one year, 
when he was appointed deputy under 
Charles S. Hay, sheriff of Clark county, 
and Berved in that office until at the April 



election, 1885, he was elected township 
assessor for Jeffersonville township for four 
years, which after one year's service, he 
resigned to accept the office of deputy 
treasurer under A. W. Suntha, county 
treasurer, in which responsible position he 
is now employed. 

Although Mr. Jenkins is yet a young 
man, he has established a reputation for 
honesty and strict integrity, and enjoys the 
respect of all who know him. 



JOHN R. LANCASTER, Boot and Shoe 
Merchant on Spring street, Jeffersonville, 
was born in the northeast part of the 
State of Indiana, January 14, 1S53. He 
was raised and worked on a farm until 
1870, and during the winter months at- 
tended the public schools of his county, 
when he came to Jeffersonville and engaged 
as clerk in the boot and shoe store of 
S. Goldbach. He clerked for him six years, 
until he sold out the store to Calvin W. 
Prather, when he accepted a position with 
him in the same capacity, and continued 
with liim for two years. 

At the end of that time, in 1879, he 
formed a partnership with Jacob Loomis 
and opened up a shoe house in his present 
stand on Spring street, under the firm 
name of "Lancaster & Loomis." This firm 
continued in business until August, 1S83, 
when it dissolved and closed out. In 1884 
Mr. Lancaster again opened the boot and 
shoe business in the same old stand, and 
has continued there ever since, doing a good 
business; by close attention to his business 
and by honest, fair dealing he has estab- 
lished a large and profitable trade. 

He is one of the promising young business 
men of his city, and his friends predict for 
him success as a merchant. He is the son of 
John and Sarah (Johnston) Lancaster. His 
father is a native Virginian and his mother 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



21 



is a native of Indiana. They are now liv- 
ing in Cass county, Mo., where in 1876 
they removed from Indiana. 
■ Mr. Lancaster was married to Miss 
Sarah F. McCulloch, daughter of John 
McCulloch, a wealthy farmer of Jefferson- 
ville township, Clark county. They have 
two children, hoth boys, — Edwin E. and 
Ralph J. He is a member of the Masonic 
Lodge and of the Presbyterian Church, and 
a worthy member of society. He is 
honored and respected by all who know 
him. 



ROBERT B. LAUDER was born in 
Scotland, November 7, 184:8, and came to 
the United States with his parents in 1856 
and located in Jefferson county, Ind. He 
lived there with his parents, attending the 
common schools of his district until he 
went to Madison to learn the business of 
house carpenter and builder. After serv- 
ing out his time as an apprentice, he con- 
tinued to work at his trade in Madison un- 
til 1879, when he removed to Jeffersonville 
and went to work for the Ohio Falls Car 
Company, as a journeyman carpenter, in 
the passenger department, and in 1880 was 
appointed as foreman of the finishing de- 
partment. He remained in that position 
until 1SS2, when he was appointed foreman 
of the erecting department and remained 
in that position until the closing down of 
the Car Works in 1884. During the sus- 
pension of work by the Car Company he 
left Jeffersonville, but in 1886, when the 
works were again started up, he returned 
and was appointed foreman of the cabinet 
and erecting work in the passenger depart- 
ment until 1887, when he was appointed 
superintendent of the passenger construc- 
tion department, which position he now 
holds. 

Mr. Lauder is a member of the order of 



the Knights of Pythias. He was married 
in 1873 to Miss Alice Thompson, of Madi- 
son, Ind. She died in 1876, leaving two 
children, a boy and girl, William and Ber- 
tha, both of whom are still living. In 1882 
he married the second time to Miss Luella 
Johnson, of Jeffersonville, Ind., and by this 
marriage he had two children, a girl (Luella) 
and boy, the boy being dead. He is the 
son of William and Ann (Shankland) Lau- 
der, both natives of Scotland. They are 
both still living and are citizens of Jennings 
county, Ind. 

WM. LEE was born on the 23d day of 
December, 1814, some two weeks before 
the final struggle for American Indepen- 
dence, which took place on the 8th day of 
January, 1815, and which resulted so glor- 
iously to the American cause, a preliminary 
engagement took place between the forces 
in the field, resulting in driving back the 
enemy. 

On this day and about this hour, in a 
sleepy, old fashioned hamlet, away up in 
the Old North State, named Concord, the 
county seat of Cabarrus county, a child 
was born, who was afterward christened 
William. His parents, James Lee and 
Mary (Barringer) Lee, were both natives of 
the same county and State, and resided in 
the neighborhood where they were born 
and raised. His father had been left an 
orphan during his boyhood, alone with his 
mother to support, his older brothers and 
sisters having married and left the parent 
roof tree. But with a stout heart he met 
and overcame the difficulties which pre- 
sented themselves, and supported himself 
and his mother until she was taken from 
liiru and transferred to another and a bette 
home. 

He was the youngest son of his father, 
James Lee, who had emigrated from Vir- 



22 



CLARK COUNTY 



ginia before the breaking out of the War of 
the Revolution, and was a member of the 
celebrated Virginia Lee family, and was a 
soldier of the Revolution. He died some 
time during the nineties. 

James Lee, the father of our subject, was 
born in November, 1787, and came into 
being the same year that the Convention 
finished its labors in enacting the present 
Federal Constitution, under which this Gov- 
ernment had grown and prospered for one 
hundred years. Notwithstanding the fact 
that he only obtained three months' school- 
ing, he was a well read and a well posted 
man upon all matters of general or public 
concern. 

In 1808 he was married to Miss Mary 
Barringer, a daughter of John Barringer, a 
wealthy old German, of Cabarrus county, 
N. C. She was born March 23, 1793, and 
was raised there in the neighborhood. Some 
of her family have risen to and occupied 
high political stations in the country — 
Daniel Barringer, a cousin, having repre- 
sented this Government both in Congress 
and as Minister to the Court of Madrid 
under Mr. Tyler's administration. 

In 1816 his father, James Lee, having 
heard so much about the Great Northwest 
and especially the then Territory of Indi- 
ana as an opening home for young farmers, 
and, although having become a slave- 
owner himself to the extent of owning three 
slaves, a man and a woman and a boy, 
because he hated the institution and 
wanted to get away from it, he determined 
to sell off and remove to Indiana. He soon 
put this determination into execution, and, 
in October, 1816, he crossed the Ohio river 
at the Falls and landed in the settlement 
on the waters of Blue river, in the south- 
ern part of Washington county, about the 
20th of October, only a short time before 
the Territory of Indiana passed into State- 



hood and was admitted into the Union as 
a sovereign State, thus establishing the 
two remarkable coincidents in his life, that 
he was born with the Federal Constitution, 
and came to Indiana and there established 
his future home at the time of its birth and 
admittance as a sister State into the Union. 

The trip from North Carolina over the 
Allegheny Mountains was made in packet 
wagons, and it took about four weeks to 
make it. William, our subject, was then 
a baby in arms and has no recollection of 
the events of that overlaud journey. His 
father hired or rented a farm belonging to 
Marston Green Clark and moved into a log 
cabin on it. This same Marston Green Clark, 
who was a relative in some degree of Gen. 
George Rogers Clark, had been a prominent 
man among the early settlers of Clark 
county ; had been a member of the first 
court organized in that county in 1801 ; had 
been one of the commissioners appointed 
to lay off the town of Jeffersonville ; was 
now a citizen of Washington county, resid- 
ing about eight miles south of the town of 
Salem, the county-seat. On this farm his 
first dim recollections came to him. Here 
he remembers his baby sister who had 
come to them since their arrival in Indiana. 
Changes took place now, sickness and even 
death came to them, but all seems to pass 
before him like a panorama ; event fol- 
lowing event in quick succession. 

Time passed on, and his early years 
were passed in familiar acquaintance with 
the trials, privations and labors of a pio- 
neer life, and his early education was such 
as could be had in the log school-houses of 
that day. 

When he had arrived at the age of sixteen, 
with a pretty good knowledge of arithme- 
tic and a smattering of English grammar, 
his father sent him to the county sem- 
inary at Salem, under the instruction of 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



23 



John I. Morrison, at that time and for many 
years afterward a leading educator of the 
State. He remained at the Washington 
county Seminary under his old tutor, Mr. 
Morrison, for a number of years studying all 
the scientific branches, the higher branches 
of mathematics and Latin, only taking a 
recess of one year when he was eighteen, 
during which he taught school. 

After leaving school he taught two years 
in Martinsville, Morgan county, Indiana. 
He was, on his return home, employed as 
deputy clerk under Maj. Eli W. Malott, 
who was elected clerk of the Washing- 
ton Circuit Court in 1838. In this po- 
sition he continued until 1841, when he was 
elected the first auditor of Washington 
county, and served in that capacity until 
1845. At the session of 1845-6 of the Leg- 
islature of the State he was elected warden 
of the Indiana State Prison at Jefferson- 
ville, the duties of which he assumed on the 
15th day of June, 1846, he having pre- 
viously removed from Salem to Jefferson- 
ville. After the expiration of his term of 
service as warden, in 1S50, he was appointed 
assistant clerk in the United States House of 
Representatives at Washington, first under 
Judge James Young, Clerk of the House, 
and then under Col. John W. Forney, six 
years in all. During these six years, while 
mingling with members of Congress, he 
made the acquaintance of many of the dis- 
tinguished men of ante-bellum clays, both 
of the House and of the Senate. He came 
to the conclusion then, and is strongly of 
the same opinion now, that it is "distance 
that lends enchantment to the view," and 
that the so-called great men, when viewed 
from short range, are but men, and some 
of them very common at that. 

A change of the officers of the House, 
made in consequence of a change in its po- 
litical complexion at the opening of the 34th 



Congress, in December, 1856, resulted in a 
new set of subordinates, and, with the others, 
Mr. Lee was removed. Mr. Guthrie, the then 
Secretary of the Treasury, gave him a clerk- 
ship under him in the First Auditor's office, 
which he filled until he resigned it in 1858 
to accept the clerkship to the Committee 
on the Post Office and Post Roads, under 
Hon. William H. English, its chairman. It 
was in this Congress that the great fight 
for the admission of Kansas under the 
Lecompton Constitution took place, and 
which was finally settled by the English 
compromise, as it was called, which was 
really nothing more than giving the people 
of Kansas a loophole through which to re- 
ject the Lecompton Constitution by simply 
voting for or against certain grants of land 
for certain purposes, and this election 
should determine the question of the ad- 
mission or the rejection of the State under 
the Lecompton Constitution. But it settled 
the Lecompton Constitutional question for 
the time being and gave the country a short 
breathing spell. 

In 1861 he was appointed by Governor 
Chase, Mr. Lincoln's Secretary of the. 
Treasury, a clerk in his office to sign green- 
backs and demand treasury notes. These 
notes came from the engraver's in sheets 
of four in bundles of a thousand sheets, 
making four thousand notes to the bundle, 
requiring four thousand signatures each for 
the register's and treasurer's clerks. Some 
clerks could sign four thousand notes a 
day, but three thousand was a big average 
day's work. He has done some hard work 
as a clerk in his lifetime, but this work of 
signing his name continuously upon note 
after note thousands of times in a day was 
the hardest work in the clerking line he 
ever did. 

Some thirty clerks were employed on 
this work but they could not produce the 



24 



CLARK COUNTY 



greenbacks as fast as the Government 
needed them, so the signatures were en- 
graved in the body of the bills and printed 
with them and the clerks were dispensed 
with for that service. From the Secretary's 
office Mr. Lee was transferred to the Second 
Auditor's office and set to auditing pay- 
master's accounts, and continued in that 
business until, in 1863, he was discharged 
because a Democrat, when he returned 
home. 

In December, 1863, he took service as a 
clerk in the freight office of the J., M. & I. 
Railroad. In 1866 he was promoted to the 
position of cashier, and continued to dis- 
charge the responsible duties of that posi- 
tion until 1S74, when a change in the sys- 
tem of accounting was adopted and he took 
another position, in which he continued 
until 1878, when he retired from railroad 
service. 

In 1875 he was nominated by the Dem- 
ocrats as a candidate for Councilman for 
the First Ward, and was elected by forty 
majority over a prominent Republican. 
He served his constituents for two years, 
and for personal reasons declined to be a 
candidate for re-election. In the mean- 
time, in June, 1876, he was elected by the 
City Council School Trustee, and served 
the city in that capacity, as President of 
the School Board, for three years, devoting 
much time to the improvement of the city 
schools. At the April election, 1882, 
he was elected a Justice of the Peace for 
Jeffersonville township, and was again re- 
elected in 1886, and now holds that humble 
but honorable position as a conservator of 
the peace of his county. 

He was married on the 4th day of August, 
1841, to Miss Kate Harryman, oldest 
daughter of Major Charles Harryman, of 
Washington county, Indiana, who had 
served one year as a Ranger during the 



year 1812 in the Far West. He died in 
1856. Her mother resided with her in 
Jeffersonville, and died April 1, 1882, aged 
80 3'ears. 

Mr. Lee's father died in November, 1844, 
on his farm at Organ Springs, Washington 
county, aged 57 years, and his mother died 
in Jeffersonville, in the home of her son 
William, after long suffering and great 
affliction, September — , 1878, in the 85th 
year of her age. 



PROF. W. E. LUGENBEEL, principal 
of Borden Institute, was born in Frederick 
county, Maryland, in 1854, and is a son of 
Heury and Elizabeth (Harn) Lugenbeel, 
natives also of Maryland. The father of 
former, and grandfather of subject, was 
William Lugenbeel, a soldier in the War of 
1812. 

The father's side of subject's family is 
of German extraction ; mother's side is 
English and French. Prof. W. E. was edu- 
cated at a private academy ; then went to 
Lebanon, Ohio, and graduated in July, 
1873, from the National Normal University. 
He then commenced teaching at Woodstock, 
Ohio, continuing only one year; then 
taught three years at Amo, Ind., and four 
years at several other places. He built up 
the Southern Indiana Normal College at 
Mitchell, Ind., and taught there eight years, 
and in March, 1888, he accepted Prof. 
Borden's liberal offer to take charge of 
Borden Institute, and is one the prominent 
young educators of the State. 

He is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, of Mitchell Lodge of Masons, 
and of K. of P. 



MICHAEL V. McCANN is a native of 
Baltimore, Md., being born in that city 
November 21, 1819. His father, Henry 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



27 



McCann, died when he was a small boy ; 
bis motber, Mary (Cunningham) McCann, 
died at tbe advanced age of 73 years. 

Mr. McCann left Baltimore at tbe age of 
12 years, and went to Boston, Mass., where 
he attended tbe common schools of that 
city and obtained a good common-school 
education. In 1840 he determined to seek 
his fortune in the great western country, 
and came to Cincinnati, Ohio, by stage, and 
was nine or ten days in making the trip. 
What a revolution in travel since 1840 has 
been wrought ! That same trip can now 
be made in less than thirty hours. After 
arriving at Cincinnati, and looking round, 
be located and entered into the furniture 
business, which be followed until 1849, 
when he removed to Franklin county, Inch, 
and located on a farm near Brookville. He 
now became a granger and reveled in tbe 
beauties and pleasures of farm life for three 
years, when a change again came over the 
spirit of his dream, and be pulled up and re- 
moved to Louisville, Ky., where he remained 
for one year. 

From Louisville he went to Jonesville, a 
village and station on the J. M., & I. B. B., 
in Bartholomew county, and there engaged 
in the mercantile business. In 1855 he 
removed from Jonesville to Henryville, a 
station on the J., M. & I. B. B. in Clark 
county, Ind., about twenty-one miles from 
Jeffersonville, and there engaged the same 
as in Jonesville, in the mercantile business. 
While in business at Henryville, he was in 
1866 nominated and elected Auditor of 
Clark county, by tbe Democratic party, and 
in 1870 he was again elected to succeed 
himself. This caused him to remove to 
Cbarlestown, tbe then county-seat of Clark 
county. It is not necessary to say anything 
about the manner in which he performed 
tbe duties of his office, as his re-election is 
a sufficient answer to that question. 



He was succeeded in the Auditor's office 
by his son, Charles A. McCann, who bad 
been one of his efficient deputies during his 
incumbency of the office. At the end of his 
four years' service, Charles A. McCann re- 
tired, refusing to again stand for re-elec- 
tion. It was during his son's term as Aud- 
itor that tbe great wrangle over the removal 
of the county seat from Cbarlestown to 
Jeffersonville took place. 

In this contest much feeling and bitter- 
ness between sections and individuals were 
engendered, and all other questions were 
made subordinate to that. When he saw 
what the result must be, that it would cer- 
tainly be removed to Jeffersonville, be sold 
out all his interests in Cbarlestown, and lo- 
cated in the city of Jeffersonville and en- 
gaged in the coal business, and has con- 
tinued in it ever since. 

He was married to Miss Mary Cowin, of 
Cincinnati, in 1843, who is still living. 
They have been blessed with seven children, 
five girls and two boys, to wit : Charles A., 
Henry, Amelia F., Mollie E., Florence E., 
Emma and Grace L. Charles A . McCann is 
in tbe wholesale grocery business in Spring- 
field, Mo. ; Henry McCann is in Orange 
county, Fla., where he owns an orange 
grove. Mollie E. is the wife of the Hon. 
Frank B. Burke, a lawyer by profession, 
and is now joint senator, representing in 
the State Senate the counties of Clark, 
Scott and Jennings. The rest of the girls 
are all at home with their parents. 

It will add but little force to what has al- 
ready been said, to say which is manifest 
that Mr. McCann is one of our most sub- 
stantial and trusted citizens, and stands 
bigb as a businessman and merchant. He 
is a Democrat among Democrats, ever ready 
to do all that be can to promote the cause 
of tbe Democracy and the success of his 
party. 



CLARK COUNTY 



JAMES HAEVEY McCAMPBELL. 
About three miles back of the Ohio river, 
and some twelve miles northeast of the Ohio 
Falls stands the beautiful town of Charles- 
town. It is one of the oldest towns in 
southern Indiana, having been settled 
early in the present century. It was, at an 
early day, established as the county-seat 
of Clark county, the second organized 
county in the Indiana Territory. It became 
at an early day, distinguished for the cul- 
ture and refinement of its inhabitants, its 
churches and its schools. It was here that 
James Harvey McCampbell was born on 
the 31st day of January, 1817. His father, 
Samuel McCampbell, emigrated from Bock- 
bridge county, Va., at an early day, and 
located in the town of Charlestown. He 
was a tanner by trade and engaged in that 
business, and James Harvey worked in his 
father's tanyard while he remained at home, 
attending school during the winter months, 
acquiring such common-school education 
as was to be obtained at the schools then 
taught in Charlestown. At an early age 
he became distinguished among his school 
associates and his teachers for his accuracy 
and arithmetic, and the beauty of his hand- 
writing. 

In 1838, when he arrived at his major- 
ity, he left the paternal home and started 
out in the world to do for himself. Like 
many another youth, he had high hopes, 
and the world was all bright sunshine be- 
fore him. He went from home to Jeffer- 
sonville, then a town of some three or four 
thousand inhabitants, situated at the head 
of the Ohio Falls, and engaged himself as 
a clerk in the dry goods store of Simon 
Bottorff. He remained with Mr. Bottorff 
two years, when in September, 1840, he 
went into partnership with John D. Wood- 
burn in the dry goods business, and opened 
a store in Jeffersonville. The firm of 



Woodburn & McCampbell continued to do 
business until the financial crisis of 1846, 
when, in consequence of the large amounts 
credited out, upon which the firm could 
realize nothing, it was compelled to suc- 
cumb. He then entered into partnership 
with his brother-in-law, Waller L. Merri- 
wether, in the drug business, and continued 
it until 1849, when he was chosen secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Jeffersonville & 
Indianapolis Railroad Company, and the 
partnership in the drug-store was dissolved, 
and he devoted all his time to the interest 
of the railroad. After the purchase of the 
Madison & Indianapolis Railroad by the 
Jeffersonville Road, and it became the Jef- 
fersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Rail- 
road, the offices of the secretary and treas- 
urer became too arduous for one man to 
handle, and they were separated, and Mr. 
McCampbell became treasurer of the com- 
pany. When the principal offices were re- 
moved to Pittsburgh, he was cashier for 
the road, and continued as such until he 
resigned in 1882, and severed his connec- 
tion with the railroad, which he had served 
altogether thirty-three years. 

In 18G5, after the close of the war, he 
was largely instrumental, if not wholly so, 
in organizing the First National Bank of 
the city of Jeffersonville, and was elected 
its president, and retained the position 
until his death. Up to 1882 the manage- 
ment of the bank had been largely left in 
the hands of its cashier, when a reorgani- 
zation of its affairs took place, and Mr. Mc- 
Campbell resigned his position under the 
railroad, and assumed direct control of the 
affairs of the bank, as its chief executive 
officer. His administration of the finan- 
cial affairs of the bank was able and effi- 
cient, and left it in a prosperous condi- 
tion. 

He served the city of Jeffersonville in 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



29 



various capacities, as a member of the 
Common Couucil and as a member of the 
Board of School Trustees. In whatever 
capacity he was called to serve the public 
he did it well and conscientiously. He was 
the friend and patron of education. For 
many years he was a trustee of Hanover 
College, Indiana, and of Center College, 
Kentucky, and contributed largely to the 
support of each. He was a stockholder and 
director in the Ohio Falls Car Company, and 
was interested in other stock companies and 
material interests of our city. 

On the 6th of October, 1840, he was 
married to Miss Letitia Merriwether, 
daughter of Samuel Merriwether, M. D., of 
Jeffersonville. Seven children were born 
to them, of whom four are still living: 
Rev. George Merriwether McCampbell, of 
Stapleton, Staten Island, N. Y. ; Mary, 
wife of Rev. J. K. Demerest, of Gettysburg, 
Pa. ; Margaret Allen, wife of Henry Cole 
Smith, of N. Y. City ; and Anna Walker, wife 
of Rev. J. M. Hutchison, of Jeffersonville. 

Mr. McCampbell was an earnest, devoted 
Christian. He took a deep, personal inter- 
est in all that pertained to the building up 
and extension of the Church of Christ. 
Early in life he made a profession of his 
faith in Christ, uniting with the Presbyte- 
rian Church. On March 23, 1844, he was 
made a ruling elder in the Presbyterian 
Church of Jeffersonville, in which church 
he continued to serve in that capacity until 
his death. For twenty years he was super- 
intendent of the Sunday-school connected 
with this church, and after his resignation 
he continued to teach a class, and did so 
until the close of his life. 



His death was sudden and unexpected. 
He had been suffering from cold, but there 
was nothing calculated to excite fear or 
apprehension of danger. On Saturday, 
the 11th of February, he did not arise as 
usual. By Monday his disease was pro- 
nounced pneumonia; he gradually grew 
worse until death came and relieved him, 
at 5 o'clock on Wednesday, the 15th day 
of February, 18S8. 

Mr. McCampbell was a loving and tender 
husband, a kind and indulgent father, a 
liberal and benevolent neighbor, a good 
and worthy citizen and a Christian gentle- 
man. In his death the public have sus- 
tained a loss that will be difficult to repair. 
Upon the whole, Mr. McCampbell's life has 
been one of active labor and great useful- 
ness. He was a live, active, energetic 
business man ; he controlled large and im- 
portant business interests which he dis- 
patched rapidly and correctly. He was 
easily accessible, always ready and courte- 
ous to every demand made upon his time 
and patience. His friendships were of the 
warmest character, and for those whom he 
favored with friendship and confidence he 
was ready to render almost any service, no 
matter how exacting. 

In his life he has demonstrated to the 
world how it is possible for a man to be an 
earnest, active worker in all humane and 
Christian enterprises and a systematic busi- 
ness man at the same time. He has demon- 
strated also to the world how a man may 
grow in business and yet keep his heart 
pure and his life unspotted from the 
world. 



30 



CLARK COUNTY 



DENNIS MURPHY, a native of Water 
Grass Hill, County Cork, Ireland, was born 
September 28, 1840. He came to the 
United States, witb his parents, in 1852, at 
the age of 12 years. Their first settlement 
in the new country was in the city of Bos- 
ton, but owing to the fact that his father 
had six sons who had to be provided for, 
and the greater opening to secure employ- 
ment, on account of the large manufactur- 
ing interests, in Milford, Mass., he moved 
there in 1853. It was in this manufactur- 
ing town that the subject of this sketch 
learned the trade of a shoemaker. He 
continued there working at his trade. Al- 
though a native of a foreign land, he loved 
his adopted country, and was a strong 
Union man, and when the War of the Re- 
bellion broke out and the Southern States 
undertook to destroy the Union, he respond- 
ed to the call of his country for volunteer 
soldiers, and early in 1862 he enlisted as a 
private in the 15th Massachusetts Infantry. 
He was sent immediately, with his regi- 
ment, to the front. In October, 1862, his 
regiment was engaged in the battle of Balls 
Bluff, Va., where he was dangerously 
wounded and was left on the field for dead. 
His regiment went into tins battle with six 
hundred and twenty-three strong, and came 
out with only three hundred and ten, so 
terrible was the fire of the enemy which 
they encountered. He was captured while 
lying wounded upon the field of battle, and 
carried as a prisoner of war by the Confed- 
erate Army. He remained a prisoner until 
in March, 1863, when he was exchanged, 
and in the same month he was honorably 
discharged from the service on account of 
the wound he had sustained, and returned 
home to Milford, and continued to reside 
there until the year 1867, when he came 
west and located in Jeffersonville, Ind., and 
was employed at the Government depot, 



where he remained nine years, until 1S76, 
when he resigned his position and engaged 
in mercantile hfe in the same city. He 
continued in this business until the year 
1885, when, in consequence of the wound 
which he had received in the head, at the 
battle of Balls Bluff, he was compelled to 
retire altogether from business, from the 
effects of which he died on the 15th of 
December, 1885, at the age of 46 years. 

As a business man and as a merchant, 
Mr. Murphy was a success. He had built up 
and conducted one of the largest dry goods 
houses in the city, making one of our most 
successful business men. Had not his 
health failed him, as it did, in the very 
midst of his most prosperous career, he 
would undoubtedly have made his fortune. 

He was a man of sterling worth. His 
intelligence, his stern integrity, and his 
moral courage commanded the respect of 
all who knew him ; while his generous 
nature, his unassuming, gentle manners, 
his patriotic spirit made him warm per- 
sonal friends wherever he went. He had 
a rare combination of virtues for one of his 
race, an Irishman, a Republican and a 
Prohibitionist, and he practiced all he 
preached. He was a member of the Order 
of the Knights of Pythias and of the G. A. 
R. His heart was in the right place. His 
hand was ever open to the demands of the 
needy and deserving poor. 

He was married twice. He was married 
in 1870 to Miss Nannie Smith, of Jeffer- 
sonville. After but four short but happy 
years of wedded life she died and left him 
no children. His second venture in matri- 
monial line was Miss Sallie J. Bottorff, a 
daughter of Henry and Teresa Bottorff, of 
Clark county, Ind. It has been said that 
true marriages are made in heaven. If 
that poetic idea be true, the match between 
this couple must have had a celestial 





£^s7s-%sisl*f{ 




SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



33 



origin, for a happier couple than they never 
existed in this world. This time the hus- 
band was taken, and the wife left to the 
lonely life of a widow. She resides in her 
beautiful residence, "Inmur View," on 
Spring Hill, in the north of the city, where 
she cherishes the memory of her late hus- 
band, and devotes her time to the rearing 
and educating of her sister's children. 



SAMUEL D. OGLESBY was born in 
Jefferson county, Ivy., December 10, 1847. 
His parents removed from Kentucky when 
he was only five years old, and located on a 
farm near JeffersonviUe, in Clark county, 
Ind. He continued to reside on the old 
place until 1874, when he married Miss 
Mary A., daughter of Robert A. Walford, 
who was a prominent farmer of the county 
and died in 1870. After he married he re- 
moved to the town of Port Fulton, where he 
continued to reside until he purchased his 
present beautiful home in the city of Jef- 
fersonviUe and removed to it in 1888. 
Previous to this time he had acted as one 
of the township assessors for several years 
to the entire satisfaction of the public. 
While a citizen of the town of Port Fulton 
he served in the capacity of town trustee 
and school trustee for several terms each. 
Previous to his removal to the city, in 1888, 
after being nominated by the Democratic 
party for the position, he was elected town- 
ship trustee of JeffersonviUe township. 
About this time he formed a partnership 
with Jerome B. Dustin, bought out Jos. L. 
Guersney, and entered into the wholesale 
and retail grain and feed business. He 
continued in this business until 18S7, when 
he sold out to Jacob S. Fry & Co., and 
retired from the business in order to give 
more time and closer attention to the du- 
ties of his office. At the April election, 1888, 
he was re-elected to the office of township 



trustee without opposition, and is now oc- 
cupying the office and devoting his whole 
time to its duties. He has given much care 
and attention to the township schools and 
they are second to none in the county, or 
in the State for that matter, outside of the 
towns and cities. Mr. Oglesby is a mem- 
ber of Jefferson Lodge, No. 3, of the 1. 0. 0. 
F., of JeffersonviUe. He is a member and 
an officer of the Christian Church, and 
stands high in that progressive body of 
Christian workers. He is surrounded by 
the comforts of life, living in a new home, 
blessed with a good wife and five living 
children, one boy and four girls, — Thomas 
W., Alma, Minnie, Bessie and Alice. Be- 
sides his home he owns property in Port 
Fulton and seventy-one acres of choice 
bottom land in a high state of cultivation. 
He is the son of Thomas B. and Mary De 
Haven Oglesby, who were natives of Ken- 
tucky. They came to this State in 1852, 
and located in this township, where they 
continued to reside until in 1877 he died 
at the age of sixty-eight years. His mother 
is still living at the old homestead, far ad- 
vanced in years. Outside of the routine 
duties of township trustee, as overseer of 
the poor and looking after the public roads 
and highways, he is made by law ex-officio 
school trustee for the township. Besides 
the important duty of looking after the 
school interests of the children of the town- 
ship, the township library is placed in his 
care and keeping. Mr. Oglesby has de- 
voted much time in building up the town- 
ship library. He has added many new 
books to its catalogue and the old ones have 
been repaired and kept arranged in order 
so that it is a credit to the township and 
to the city in which it is located. 



CHRISTOPHER PEACELEY, the re- 
corder of Clark county, was born in the 



34 



CLARK COUNTY 



city of Jeffersonville, in said county, August 
29, 1838. His father, Christopher Peace- 
ley, native of Ireland, and his mother, 
Clarrissa (Gunn) Peaceley, native of Scot- 
land, and emigrated to the United States, 
and located in Jeffersonville among its 
early settlers. 

His father was a shoemaker by trade. 
He was the second mayor of Jeffersonville. 
He served as justice of the peace twenty- 
six years. He has been dead over thirty 
years. 

Mr. Chris Peaceley is the only living 
son, and one sister, Mrs. G. A. Hull, of 
California, is living. Mr. Hull is a cap- 
tain in the United States amry. Mr. 
Peaceley was educated in the public schools 
in the city of Louisville, Ky. After he 
left school he went into a printing office to 
learn the printer's trade. He worked at 
the printer's case at various places for 
some fourteen years. In April, 1862, he 
enlisted in the Forty-Ninth Regiment, 
Indiana Volunteers. Remained in the ser- 
vice for three years. Was wounded by the 
guerrillas at Lexington, Ky., by which he 
lost his foot. After the war he returned 
to Jeffersonville, and was employed in the 
quartermaster's depot for seven years, up 
to 1876. 

He was, at the death of Evan Shelby, the 
county recorder, appointed to fill the va- 
cancy by the board of county commission- 
ers, until the next general election, when a 
successor would be elected and qualified. 
At the November election, in 1886, he was 
elected to fill the vacancy for four years, 
ending 1890. 

Was married in 1869 to Miss Anna Car- 
ter, of Jeffersonville, daughter of Sparrow 
Carter, railroad conductor. He is a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R., K. of P., American 
Legion of Honor, and the Ladies and 
Knights of Honor. 



DAVID C. PEYTON, M. D., is a native 
of Clark county. He was born October 12, 
1860, near the old town of Charlestown, on 
Silver Creek. His parents, John M. and 
Susan Peyton, were also natives of Clark 
county and were to the manor born. His 
grandfather, Daniel Peyton, was a native 
of the Old Dominion, and emigrated to the 
then Great Northwest Territory and set- 
tled in Clark county some time about 1800, 
and was a captain of the militia in the 
early wars with the Indians. His Grand- 
father Clark was Scotch-Irish, and came 
from Scotland and settled near Jeffersonville. 
The father of Dr. Peyton was a farmer, 
bom on June 29, 1816, and died on June 
27, 1882. 

The Doctor was the youngest child of 
seven sons and one daughter. His mother 
is still living, and resides at the old home- 
stead, where he was raised, and labored 
and went to school during the Winter ses- 
sions and obtained such education as could 
be acquired in such an irregular manner. 
At the age of twenty he began to read 
medicine with Dr. J. M. Reynolds, of 
Memphis, in this county. He took his 
first medical course at the Ohio Medical 
College, Cincinnati, in 1882, and com- 
menced the practice of his profession in 
1883, at Utiea, in Clark county, and prac- 
ticed there about one year and then moved 
to Charlestown, where he remained about a 
year engaged in the drug business in con- 
nection with his practice. He then went 
to the town of Henryville, in Monroe town- 
shij>, Clark county, and remained there 
until the Fall of 1885, when he entered the 
University of Louisville, from which he' 
graduated in the Spring of 1886. In 
March after his graduation, he located in 
the city of Jeffersonville, where he has re- 
mained ever since, where he has met with 
the most gratifying success in his profes- 






SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



35 



sion. He has been elected by the City 
Council as a member of the City Board of 
Health three successive terms, and is now 
president of the Clark County Board of 
Health, member of the Clark County Med- 
ical Society, and American Medical Asso- 
ciation, is assistant to the Principles and 
Practice of the Chair of Surgery in the Ken- 
tucky School of Medicine, with Prof. J. 
Mathews, of Louisville. Dr. Peyton, by 
industry and honest endeavor, has estab- 
lisbed for himself a high reputation as a 
skillful and safe practioner, and bids fair 
to become a shining light in his profession. 
He was married, June 2, 1883, to Miss 
Retta Hay, a sister of Sheriff Charles S. 
Hay, of Clark county, and a daughter of 
Geo. W. and Susan Hay, of Charlestown, 
Iud. So far they have not been blessed 
with children. 

GEORGE PFAU was born in Germany 
on the 18th of August, 1839. He came to 
the United States in 1854, and located in 
Jcffersonville in 1856. He learned the bar- 
ber's trade, which he followed, doing a good 
business until 1870, when he quit that 
business and went into the manufacture of 
lard oil and general lubricating oils. His 
business is an example of what pluck and 
energy will accomplish. He began with a 
smaU capital and in a small way, and by 
industry and close application to business, 
it has constantly grown and become ex- 
tended, imtil now he has a large factory 
and doing a large business, having an 
extensive trade all over the South, with 
orders beyond his capacity to fill as fast 
as wanted. 

He was married to Miss Barbara Furhman, 
of Jeffersonville, in 1859, and they have 
seven children born to them, four boys and 
three girls : George, Willie, Alfred, Clar- 
ence, Annie, Minnie and Lillie. He took 



George in as a partner in his business on 
the first of October last. 

Mr. Pfau was elected a member of the 
school board of his city in 1881, and served 
until 188-1. He was again elected to the 
same office in 1886, and is now a member 
of that body. As a German-American 
citizen he takes great interest in the effi- 
ciency and success of the public schools of 
his city. 

In 1888 he was unanimously nominated 
by the Republican party as their candidate 
for Joint Senator for the counties of Clark, 
Scott and Jennings. He had for his com- 
petitor Hon. Frank B. Burke, of Jefferson- 
ville, Ind. Although the Democratic ma- 
jority in the three counties is pretty large, 
he was only beaten less than a hundred 
votes, having run ahead of his party in 
Clark, his own county, over two hundred 
votes. 

He is a member of the Masonic Order, 
and of the Odd Fellows, and of the Knight 
Templars. He is a member of the German 
Reformed Church, and one of its Trustees. 
He is one of the directors in the Citizens' 
National Bank, and has been a director in 
the German Savings and Loan Association 
ever since its organization, about eighteen 
years. 

Mr. Pfau is one of the best German- 
American citizens of his city. He has 
risen from very humble circumstances to 
an honorable position, and has won recog- 
nition among the highest and best class of 
his fellow- citizens. He has made himself 
worthy of all commendation. 



THOMAS B. RADER is a native of 
Henryville, Clark county, Ind., and was 
born on the 25th day of December, 1859, and 
was brought up in his native village re- 
ceiving such education as the common 
schools there afforded. He commenced 



36 



CLARK COUNTY 



teaching school at an early age, having 
taught a district school at the age of 16, 
and continued to teach a district school for 
five consecutive years, when he was ap- 
pointed deputy under Dr. H. H. Ferguson, 
County Treasurer of Clark county. In this 
capacity he served for four years, when Dr. 
Ferguson retired from the office and Jacoh 
S. Fry became County Treasurer, which 
was in 1883. He then accepted a position 
as clerk in the Auditor's office of the 
Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company 
in Louisville, which position he held until 
the spring of 1888, when he resigned it to 
go into business for himself in the city of 
Jeffersonville, that of real estate and insur- 
ance agency. Mr. Rader has embarked in 
this business with a determination to make 
a success of it. If energy and enterprise, 
backed by a strong will and determination 
avail anything, he will succeed in building 
up a business that will be an honor to the 
city and profitable to himself. We are sure 
that he has the hearty good will for his 
success of every man whose good will is 
worth having. 

He is a member of the lodge of the K. of 
P. and a member of the American Legion 
of Honor, and is secretary of the Citizens' 
Loan Association. He was married on the 
8th of May, 1880, to Miss Lotta Butterfoss, 
of Jeffersonville. The union is blessed with 
three nice boys, Thomas L., Ralph and 
Claud G. His father, Commodore B. Rader, 
is a native of Kentucky, and his mother, 
Mary (Bogle) Rader, is a native of Pennsyl- 
vania; she died in 1876, at the age of 41 
years. When his father came to Indiana 
he was only a boy and was engaged in the 
saw-mill business for a number of years. 



CHARLES RUEHL was born in the city 
of Jeffersonville, Clark county, Iud., July 



22, 1860. He was brought up in the city 
of his birth and attended the public schools 
until he was taken from school and placed 
as a clerk in his father's grocery, and re- 
mained there until 1873, when he left his 
father and engaged himself as a traveling 
salesman for Kesler, Koch & Co., of Louis- 
ville. He traveled for this firm for four and 
a half years. Becoming weary of traveling 
around all the time, in 1888 he started in 
the grocery business for himself, and opened 
at No. 147 Spring street, Jeffersonville, 
Ind., and has no cause to regret the change. 
Owing to his many friends and his close 
attention to business, and the exercise of 
prudence and good judgment in extending 
credit, he has built up a large and prosper- 
ous trade. 

Mr. Ruehl was married in 1881 to Miss 
Clara Schultz, daughter of John Schultz, a 
merchant tailor of Jeffersonville, who was 
appointed Inspector of Clothing at the 
Quartermaster's Depot, in Jeffersonville, 
on the 1st of October, 1888, hut it not 
suiting him, he resigned his position, to 
take effect the 1st of January, 1889. They 
have two children, a boy and a girl, Charles 
A. and Mabel M. 

He is the son of John and Johanna 
(Leir) Ruehl, both natives of Germany, and 
came to the United States in 1847, and 
first located in Louisville, Ky., where they 
were married, and came to Jeffersonville 
in 1856, and in 1S58 engaged in the grocery 
business and continued in that business 
until 1S84, when he retired from business, 
and is now living a retired life. His mother 
died in 1S79, at the age of 53 years. 

Mr. Ruehl is a member of the order of 
the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and of 
the German Evangelical Reformed St. Lucas 
Church. He is a quiet, gentle and unas- 
suming citizen. His honesty and integrity 
as a merchant stand unimpeached, and as 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



37 



a man and a citizen he commands universal 
respect from all who know him. 



DR. ISAAC N. RUDDELL is a native of 
Clark county, Ind. He was born on his 
father's farm near New Market, on the 6th 
day of June, 1857. He is the son of Alex- 
ander T. and Kate (Haymaker) Ruddell, 
both of whom are also natives of the county. 
His grandfather, William Ruddell, was 
born near the little town of Utica, and was 
one of the earliest merchants of the city of 
Jeffersonville. His great grandfather was 
a Virginian by birth, and came to the North- 
west Territory at quite an early day and 
settled in Clark county. 

He was a Methodist preacher, and would 
often leave the plow to go to fill an engage- 
ment to preach, seeming to consider the 
cultivation of souls and preparing them 
for Heaven was of more importance than 
the cultivation of com for man's temporal 
wants. Grandfather John Haymaker came 
from Jefferson county, across the Ohio 
river, and settled in Clark county. Our 
subject's father isstiU living upon his farm. 
A great deal of his life has been spent in 
the mercantile business at the town of 
Charlestown in this county. 

Dr. Isaac N. Ruddell passed his boyhood 
upon his father's farm, and did his share on 
the farm, as farmers' sons usually do. He 
was educated at the Charlestown schools 
and spent a while at Asbury University, 
but graduated in 1878 from the Barnett 
Academy, at Charlestown, Ind. He com- 
menced his studies of medicine with Dr. 
Thomas A.Graham, of the city of Jefferson- 
ville. He entered the Medical Department 
of the Louisville University and took a 
thorough course, and graduated on the 25th 
February, 1881. 

He immediately stuck out his shingle and 



commenced the practice of his profession 
in Jeffersonville. He was appointed by 
the Board of County Commissioners to do 
the pauper practice for the city and town- 
ship of Jeffersonville. He has, by close 
application to his profession and by gener- 
ous and fair dealing, built up for himself a 
good practice, and it is only fair to predict, 
if he continues in the same line, that at no 
distant day he will stand among the fore- 
most' of his profession. 

He was married on the 21st day of De- 
cember, 1887, to Miss Mattie Ashford, of 
Lexington, Ky. He is secretary and treas- 
urer of the Clark County Medical Society, 
and a member of the State Medical Society, 
and was secretary of the Congressional 
Medical Association until that Association 
dissolved. 

ALFRED 0. SCHULER is a native of 
Germany. Was born June 1, 1837. He 
came to the United States in 1857, when 
he was only 20 years of age, and located 
in Jeffersonville in 1858, and engaged as 
clerk in the store of G. W. Swartz, who 
was at that time one of the leading dry 
"goods merchants in Jeffersonville. He re- 
mained with Mr. Swartz until 1860, when 
he started in the boot and shoe business 
for himself. He continued in this business 
until 1862, when he sold out and took a 
trip to his old home in Germany, on a visit 
to his relatives and friends. In 1863 he 
returned to Jeffersonville, but during that 
year he went to Cincinnati and obtained a 
situation as clerk for Kuhn, Netter & Co., 
at that time the largest wholesale cloth 
house in Cincinnati. He remained with 
this firm until in 1864, when he again re- 
turned to Jeffersonville and clerked in the 
dry goods store of R. S. Heiskel & Co. He 
continued with this firm until 1866, when 
it was dissolved, and the goods of the firm 



38 



CLARK COUNTY 



offered for sale. He then purchased the 
stock of the old firm, and opened up in the 
dry goods business, and has continued in 
it ever since, and by honest effort and close 
attention to business, has made a success 
of it and built up a large trade. 

Mr. Schuler is a member of the Masonic 
and Odd Fellows' Lodges, and a member 
of the German Evangelical Reformed St. 
Lucas Church. He was elected by the 
Republican party as a member of the Com- 
mon Council of his city, and served in that 
capacity for two years, 1883 and 1884. 

He was married in 1868 to Miss Louisa 
Keepfer, of New Jersey, and they have 
been blessed with five children, all girls : 
Anna, Lena, Cora, Minnie and Amy, all 
living at home. 

Mr. Schuler is one of our very best Ger- 
man-American citizens, and is an honor to 
his adopted city, and would be to any city 
wherever he might locate. 



WILLIAM B. SHELBY, deceased, is of 
a family noted as soldiers and statesmen 
in the United States. He was bom in 
1804, in Clark county, Ind., on what is 
known as the Shelby farm, and was a son 
of Evan Shelby — the latter a son of James 
Shelby, a brother to Gen. Isaac Shelby, 
twice governor of Kentucky, and a Revolu- 
tionary soldier. Evan Shelby was a na- 
tive of Virginia, came to Indiana on a flat- 
boat in an early day, and was married 
soon after his arrival. William B. inher- 
ited the martial spirit of his ancestors, and 
took part in the Blackhawk war in 1832- 
33, furnishing his own horse and outfit. 
In 1838 he married Miss Mary E. Wilson, 
a daughter of Jacob Wilson, of Carmi, 111., 
whose parents were Pennsylvanians. He 
(Jacob Wilson) was in the War of 1812, 
under Col. William Washington. Mr. and 



Mrs. Shelby had seven children, viz : 
Margaret, John Shelby, Wat (died at the 
age of 30 years), Charles D., Ida M., Oliver 
W. and Evan. Mr. Shelby lived all his 
life on the old Shelby farm where he was 
born, and where he died October 23, 1862. 
His widow still resides on the farm, which 
she has carried on as in the days of her 
husband. Here she has lived since his 
death, and has succeeded in bringing up 
her children and educating them to fit 
them for any station in life they may be 
called to fill. The homestead comprises 
about 400 acres of good land, which Mrs. 
Shelby now owns. 



ALEXANDER W. SM1THA is a native 
of this State, and was born in Madison 
township, Jefferson county, Ind., May 26, 
1843. He is the son of W. B. Smitha and 
Emma (Robinson) Smitha, both natives of 
the State of Kentucky. His father died in 
1850 of cholera. His family is of German 
or:gin. Mr. Smitha, July 1, 1861, an 
early day in the Rebellion, enlisted in the 
37th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and 
was mustered into the service, in October 
of that same year, as a private. He served 
in the 37th for twenty months, when he 
was transferred to the 10th Regiment In- 
diana Cavalry, and was wounded at the 
battle of Stone River. He filled several 
positions as non - commissioned officer. 
He was mustered out of the service at 
Vieksburg, Miss., in August, 1865, after 
the close of the war. 

After he returned home from the war he 
was engaged in several pursuits. Among 
others he did the township assessing dur- 
ing the spring. He was appointed by 
John L. Delahunt, county auditor of Clark 
county, in 1883, his chief deputy, and 
served in that capacity until the general 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



39 



election in 1886, when he was nominated 
by his political friends and elected in No- 
vember of that year as treasurer of Clark 
county, and entered upon the discharge of 
the duties of his office September, 5, 1887. 
In 1888 he was re-elected to succeed him- 
self. His second term will commence 
September, 1889. 

He was married February 13, 1874, to 
Miss Rea Fewell, of Jefferson county, hid., 
and has three children living, — Geo. R., 
Emma M. and Oscar F. 



PHILIP SPECHT is a native of Ger- 
many. Born March 26, 1843. He came 
to the United States while an infant inarms 
with his parents, who located in Philadel- 
phia, Pa., and in 1852 they came West and 
located in Old Vernon, the county-seat of 
Jennings county, Ind. After the battle of 
Bull's Run, when troops from the North 
were being enlisted and hurried to the 
front, in August, 1861, he, prompted by a 
patriotic impulse to march to the defence 
of his adopted country, enlisted in Co. H., 
26th Rsg. Indiana Infantry, in August, 
1861. 

He was regularly and honorably dis- 
charged from the service, on the 24th day 
of September, 1864, serving a little over 
three years. During his three years of 
service he was in some pretty close actions 
and saw some pretty rough service, but his 
spirit and bravery were equal to the occa- 
sion at all times and under all circumstan- 
ces. He was in the battle of Prairie Grove, 
Ark., at the seige of Vicksburg and at the 
battle of Fort Hudson. His Regiment, 
and he with it, were captured and taken 
prisoners of war at Morganza's Bend on the 
Mississippi river, and were taken to Camp 
Ford, Tex., and were held there in captivity 
for eleven months. After some nine months 



of wearisome captivity, Mr. Specht and 
three of his comrades made their escape 
and safely reached Natchez, Miss., and 
were returned to their Regiment, after it 
had been released at Donaldsonville, La. 

After his discharge he returned to his 
old home, Vernon, and went into the saloon 
business. In 1871 he left Vernon and 
came to Jeffersonville and went into the 
same business there, and has been in it 
continuously ever since. He is a member of 
the K. of H. and of the G. A. R. and of the 
Chosen Friends. He was married in 1868 
to Miss Susan Egan, of Vernon, Jennings 
county, Ind. They have two living chil- 
dren, both girls, — Julia and Theresa. 

Mr. Philip Specht is one of the substan- 
tial German- American citizens. He has 
accumulated, by economy and industry, a 
large property in and around the city of 
Jeffersonville. He owns twenty-six acres 
of valuable land lying about a mile north- 
west from the city and four houses in the 
city. However men may differ upon the 
subject of saloon keeping all have to admit 
that Phil Specht is an honest man and a 
good citizen. 



EUGENE V. STEALEY is a native of 
Helena, Ark., where he was born March 
2, 1850. His father, John 0. Stealey, 
was a native of Virginia. His mother, 
Mary Patrick Stealey, who is living with 
him in Jeffersonville, is a native of Clark 
county, Ind. His grandfather and grand- 
mother on his mother's side came with 
their parents to Clark county, at an early 
day, and his great grandfather was ap- 
pointed first postm ister of Jeffersonville. 
Mr. Stealey was sent to the public schools 
Jeffersonville at the age of eight, and con- 
tinued until he was fourteen, when he was 
apprenticed to his father to lc-arn the tin- 



40 



CLARK COUNTY 



ning business. After arriving at his ma- 
jority he opened business on his own ac- 
count, and continued to prosecute it with 
vigor until 18S2, when he was elected 
Township Trustee by an overwhelming 
majority. In 1884 he was re-elected to 
succeed himself, serving in this office in 
all four years. In 1886, after a vigor- 
ous contest, he was nominated over Richard 
C.McGill, the then incumbent of the office, 
as a candidate for the office of County Clerk, 
by a clear but small majority. Some of Mr. 
McG ill's friends were not satisfied and per- 
suaded him to become an indepedent candi- 
date against the nominee of his party. This 
made Mr. Stealey's friends indignant, and 
the canvass became bitter and personal. 
Notwithstanding he was elected by a ma- 
jority of 226. At the expiration of the 
term of office of his predecessor he entered 
upon the discharge of the responsible 
duties devolving upon him, and continues 
to discharge them. He was married De- 
cember 15, 1884, to Miss Eva I veil. 



ALLEN A. SWARTZ is the son of Rev. 
Jacob Swartz and Rebecca (Jacobs) Swartz, 
and was born in Clark county, Indiana, 
September 11, 1849. Rev. Jacob Swartz, his 
father, is a native of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, and was brought to Indiana by his 
parents, and settled in Clark county at an 
early day in its settlement, when he was 
three or four years old. He was what was 
known as a local Methodist Episcopal 
preacher ; he was licensed to preach, but 
took no charge. He was born in 1800, and 
died in 1879, at the age of seventy-nine 
years, thus reaching nearly to his fourscore 
years, he died at his home in the city of 
Jeffersonville, surrounded by his aged wife 
and seven children. His wife soon fol- 
lowed him, dying in December, 1886. 



Mr. Allen A. Swartz was born and brought 
up on a farm in Utica township, Clark 
county Indiana. He attended, during his 
boyhood at home, the common schools of 
the neighborhood. At the proper age he 
was sent to Moores Hill College for a while, 
and then to Asbury University, now the 
DePauw University. 

After finishing his course of study, he 
returned home and formed a partnership 
with A. J. Frank, and engaged in the dry- 
goods trade under the firm name of "Frank 
& Swartz." This firm continued for three 
years, when Mr. Swartz bought out his 
partner and has continued in the dry goods 
mercantile business ever since, making him 
one among the oldest dry goods merchants 
in the city of Jeffersonville. 

His store is situated in a double brick 
business house erected by himself for the 
purpose on Spring street, Nos. 93 and 95, 
where he is doing a large and successful 
business. All this he has accomplished 
by strict attention to business and honest 
dealings with all who trade with him. 

He follows in the footsteps of his ven- 
erable father, and is an active member of 
the Wall Street Methodist Episcopal church 
in his city and is one of its official board. 
He is also a member of the Masonic Lodge 
of his city. 

He was married in 1879 to Miss Sallie 
Clarke, daughter of Prof. Joseph Clarke, of 
Jeffersonville. They have been blessed 
with two children, Clara and Walter A. 



SAMUEL C. TAGGART was born on the 
14th day of September, 1828, in Clark 
county, Ky. His father, James Taggart, 
was born near Colerain, Ireland, on the 4th 
of July, 1800, and came to the United States 
in 1817 and settled in Clark county, Ky., 
and removed thence to Clark county, Ind., 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



41 



in 1833, and settled in Charlestown. He 
died April 2, 1879. 

He was a member of the Presbyterian 
Church ; he was a graduate of Transylvania 
University, Lexington, Ky., in 1822. He 
practiced medicine in Kentucky and for a 
short time in Clark county, Ind. He in- 
troduced his younger brother, Dr. William 
Taggart, in this county, and then retired 
from practice. His brother died in June, 
1888. 

Dr. Samuel C. Taggart came to Clark 
county, Ind., with his father in 1833, and 
worked on the farm until he was 17 years 
old, when he entered Hanover College and 
graduated in 1848. After graduating from 
college he commenced the study of medi- 
cine with his uncle, and after proper prepa- 
ration he entered the Medical Department 
of the Louisville University and graduated 
in March 1851, and immediately com- 
menced the practice of his profession in the 
town of Charlestown, Clark county, where 
he continued to practice with great success 
until 1880. 

In 1878 he became the Republican nomi- 
nee for the office of clerk of the Clark Cir- 
cuit Court against Mr. Plez James who had 
been nominated by the Democrats for re- 
election, and on account of the great per- 
sonal popularity of Dr. Taggart, and some 
bitterness felt by some Democrats against 
Mr. James, growing out of the Court House 
Removal question, which yet rankled in the 
breasts of many, Dr. Taggart was elected, 
and assumed the duties of his office in 1880 
and leaving his practice he removed to Jef- 
fersonville to take charge of his office. 

In 1882 he was nominated by his polit- 
ical friends for re-election against Richard 
C. McGill, a young man of good character 
and of undoubted qualifications for the 
position, having been trained under his 
Uncle, Plez James, whom the Doctor had 



beaten, as a deputy in the office. This 
time the Doctor was defeated, however, by 
a greatly reduced Democratic majority. So 
at the termination of his official life, in a 
short time he returned to his old home in 
Charlestown, and to re-commence the prac- 
tice of medicine among his old friends and 
patients. 

In 1886 Doctor Taggart was nominated 
by his political friends as a candidate for 
State Senator for this Senatorial District, 
consisting of the counties of Clark and 
Jefferson. Dr. David McClure, of Jeffer- 
sonville, an old wheel horse of the Demo- 
cratic party, was nominated by his party 
friends for re-election. Clark county is 
Democratic and Jefferson county is Repub- 
lican, but it was generally supposed that 
the Democratic majority in Clark would 
sufficiently overtop the Republican majority 
in Jefferson county, to make it safe for the 
success of the Democratic candidate. Dr. 
McClure was elected by barely eight ma- 
jority. 

On the death of James H. McCampbell 
on the 15th of February, 1888, the office of 
President of the First National Bank of the 
city of Jeffersonville became vacant. This 
bank was organized in 1865 with a capital 
of $100,000, subsequently increased to 
$4-00,000, but it was afterward reduced 
to $150,000, principally by the efforts and 
capital of Jas. H. McCampbell, who was 
made its President and held that position 
until his death. Dr. S. C. Taggart was 
elected, and, after considerable hesitation 
and delay, accepted and is now performing 
the responsible duties pertaining to the 
position. 

In 1852 Dr. Taggart was married to 
Cynthia E. McCampbell, daughter of Sam- 
uel McCampbell, of Charlestown, a Virginian 
by birth and one of the early settlers of 
that ancient county-seat, and was a tanner 



42 



CLARK COUNTY 



by trade and owned a tanyard in Charles- 
town and carried on the business. Out of 
this matrimonial union have come two 
children, — James E. Taggart, a member of 
the law firm of Burtt & Taggart, and Jennie, 
wife of Charles E. Louis. 

Dr. Taggart is endowed with great men- 
tal and physical endurance. He is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church, and his 
hand is ever open to bestow charity upon 
the poor, the needy and the deserving. As 
a citizen, none stands higher. In social 
life he is pre-eminent ; he is genial, courte- 
ous, kind and gentle to all, rich and poor. 
His friends are many, and his enemies, if 
he has any, are few. 



JAMES E. TAGGART, the junior mem- 
ber of the firm of Burtt & Taggart, was 
married to Miss Nettie Winesburg, daugh- 
ter of John P. Winesburg, in Jeffersonville, 
April 24, 1885, with one child the result 
of the union. 

He is the son of Dr. Samuel C. Taggart, 
President of the First National Bank of 
Jeffersonville. Mr. Taggart is a graduate 
of Hanover College, of the class of 1874, 
and was admitted to practice in the sum- 
mer of 1SS5. He had previously served as 
deputy under his father, who was clerk of 
Clark Circuit Court for four years, from 
1879 to 1883. He graduated from Union 
College of Law, Chicago, in 1885. He 
was born in Charlestown, July 1, 1858. 



JOHN W. TIMMONDS was born in 
Adams county, Ohio. He went to Ports- 
mouth, Ohio, when a boy to learn his 
trade as engineer in that city, on the 
mail boats plying between Portsmouth 
and Cincinnati. He was on these boats 
for three years, when in April, 1S52, 



he went on the Portsmouth, Hamden 
& Columbus Railroad, which is a branch of 
the Baltimore & Ohio Road. He run on 
this road continuously for seven years as 
engineer. In January, 1S60, he came to 
Jeffersonville, and run as engineer on the 
Jeffersonville & Indianapolis Railroad, now 
the J., M. & I. R. R., and run on that three 
years. 

In 1863 he went into the Quartermas- 
ter's department of Louisville and Cincin- 
nati. Was under old General and Captain 
Allen in the Louisville department, and 
was under Captain Lewis in the River 
Transportation department of Cincinnati. 
In the summer of 1865, he came to Jeffer- 
sonville, and took charge of the engine in 
the Quartermasters' Supply Depot, and 
served the Government as chief engineer in 
that department for twenty-four years, and 
never lost a day in all that time. 

He is both a Mason and an Odd Fellow, 
and a passed officer in both Lodges, both 
in the subordinate and in the encampment. 
He is a member of the Jeffersonville Wall 
Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and is 
passed officer of the National Association 
of Engineers of the State of Indiana. 

He was married on the 12th day of April, 
1855, to Miss Caroline Gebhardt, of Scioto 
county, Ohio, and their union has re- 
uslted in three living children, one boy 
and two girls — John W., Lillie'and Blanch 
Adale. 

Mr. Timmonds is the son of John W. and 
Mary (Woodworth) Timmonds ; his mother 
was a native of Adams county, Ohio, and 
died in 1847 at the age of 42. His father 
a native of Berkeley county, Virginia, and 
died in 1849, surviving his wife only two 
years, leaving seven young and almost help- 
less children, of which the subject of our 
sketch was the oldest boy, to struggle 
through life as best they could, five of 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



43 



whom are still living. They are John W. 
Timmonds ; Richard Henry Timrnonds, who 
is now employed at the Ohio Falls Car 
Works as steam pipe fitter there — he was 
employed as first assistant engineer at the 
Government Depot for twenty-one years ; 
Harriet Amanda, wife of Captain William 
Little, now living in Greenup county, Ky., 
owning one of the finest farms in that coun- 
ty — Mrs. Little is the oldest child ; Sa- 
mantha, who is married to H. C. McCoy, 
also of Greenup county, Ky., who owns 
and lives on a fine farm ; and Melissa, who 
is still single, and lives with her sister, Mrs. 
Capt. Little. 

This was certainly, in many respects, a 
remarkahle family. Left destitute and 
doubly orphaned while the younger ones 
were helpless, the oldest but a boy, and yet, 
under God's Providence and that heroic 
devotion of the older member of the fam- 
ily to the younger, they are all raised to 
the highest respectability and honorable 
standing in society. 



EDWARD M. WATKINS a native of 
Clark county, Ind., was born in the city of 
Jeffersonville, March 22, 1856 ; the son 
of Wilford H. and Anna Watkins, natives 
of Missouri and Indiana respectively. 

His parents, while he was yet a small boy, 
removed to Harrison county and settled on 
a fann in the southern part of it. When 
he arrived at suitable age, he was sent to 
the Central Indiana Normal School, at 
Ladoga, in Montgomery county, Ind., an 
educational institution that ranks foremost 
among its class in the State. From this 
Institution he graduated with honor in 
187-4. Afterward he graduated in a Com- 
mercial Course at Poughkeepsie, New York, 
in 1877. 

He then read medicine with Dr. W. H. 



Reader, of New Amsterdam, in Harrison 
county, Ind., and Dr. Kelly, of Louisville. 
He attended the Medical College in Louis- 
ville, and graduated a full fledged doctor 
February 20, 1882. 

He located at Hawesville, Kentucky, and 
commenced the practice of his profession, 
and continued there about a year. While 
at Hawesville he married Miss Jennie E. 
Mitchell of that place, in 18S2. Not satis- 
fied with Hawesville, he pulled up stakes 
and went to Holdridge, Nebraska. Re- 
mained there until 1885, when he returned 
to his old native home, the city of Jeffer- 
sonville, where he has resided ever since, 
and besides being engaged in the drug busi- 
ness is engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession, and is an honored member of the 
Clark County Medical Association, and is 
succeeding in business beyond his expecta- 
tions. 

Dr. Watkins is a man of energy and de- 
cision of character, and by his prompt and 
successful attention to the calls of the sick 
and afflicted has built up a large and lu- 
crative practice for so young a man. 



JOHN WHITE, Sr., was born in Fay- 
ette county, Penn., February 22, 1787, and 
came to Indiana Territory in 1 804, when 
the country was almost an unbroken for- 
est, filled with Indians and wild animals. 
The Indians, always treacherous, made it 
necessary to have the trusty rifle close at 
hand at all times. When a courier arrived 
from the Collins settlement with the news 
of the Pigeon Roost massacre, he promptly 
responded to the call for volunteers to fol- 
low the Indians and punish them for the 
savage murder of his friends. The short 
campaign was fruitless of any scalps, as 
the Indians were not overtaken. He as- 
sisted in the sad task of burying the dead 



44 



CLARK COUNTY 



of the Pigeon Roost massacre and returned 
home to follow his trade of tanning, while 
the women and children were placed in a 
fort near by to save them from the toma- 
hawk and scalping knife of the Indians. 
He was also a farmer, and a good mechan- 
ic, inventing plows and other farm imple- 
ments of a superior pattern, and in that 
particular was a very useful citizen. He 
was a strictly moral and temperate man, 
but was not a communicant of any church. 
Lived as near up to the Golden Kule as 
it was possible for mortals to do, and died 
in 1848. 

Hanna Carr White was also born in 
Fayette county, Penn., December 19, 
178G. Her father, Elisha Carr, with his 
family emigrated to Kentucky and settled 
near Bryant's Station in 1797. Remained 
there about three years, when he with his 
family moved to Clark's Grant, Indiana 
Territory, where John White and Hanna 
Carr White were married in the year 1808. 
The Carr family was numerous and influ- 
ential. Many of them filled honorable and 
responsible offices. Hanna Carr White 
lived to see six of her children reach their 
majority. She was held in high esteem 
by all who knew her, and died in 1845. 

Colden C. White, son of John and Han- 
na White, was born in Clark county in 
1825, was a farmer by occupation and 
lived at the old homestead 59 years. Was 
married to Josephine McCune in 1853. 
She was born in Charlestown, Clark coun- 
ty, Ind., in 183S. 

C. C. White has two sons, Oren C. and 
Frank C. 

Wesley Carr White, the older son of 
John White's family, was born in 1809. 
Moved to Missouri in 1S51. Enlisted in 
the Union army at the age of 53 years for 
a three years' service. Was captured at 
Shiloh and spent about one year in Libby 



and Andersonville prisons, when he was 
exchanged and discharged from service. 
After recruiting his shattered health he en- 
listed again for six months. His regiment 
was ordered to the relief of Nashville, 
Teim., but was prevented from arriving 
there in time to take part in the battle of 
Nashville by the Rebels destroying the 
railroad south of Louisville. He was or- 
dered to St. Louis, Mo., where he died in 
the military hospital about the close of the 
war. 



OTTO F. ZIMMERMAN was born in 
Germany, October 1, 184G, and emigrated 
to the United States in 1SG8, and located 
in the city of Jeffersonville in the same 
year. He had served his apprenticeship to 
the trade of silversmith in Germany, before 
he left that country. He went to work, 
after locating in Jeffersonville, for Mr. 
Drabnick, who was the leading jeweler of 
the place at that time. He remained with 
Mr. Drabnick only some six months, when 
he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and worked 
there for a while for a wholesale jewelry 
house. From there he went South and 
traveled all through that country, working 
at his trade from city to city. In 1875 he 
once more returned to the city of Jefferson- 
ville, and in 1879 opened a jewelry store 
for himself, and has continued there in the 
business ever since. He has prospered 
beyond his expectations. By doing good 
work and dealing honestly and fairly with 
his patrons and customers, and by giving 
strict attention to his business, he has 
built up a large trade, and is now the 
largest and most complete house of the 
kind in the city of Jeffersonville. He de- 
serves the highest commendation for his 
success in business, and is but another ex- 
ample of what pluck and perseverance will 
do for a man. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



45 



Mr. Zimmerman was married to Miss 
Amelia Baude, a niece of Mr. Drabnick, 
for whom he first worked when he came to 
Jeffersouville, in 1868. The union has 
been blessed with two children, a boy and a 
girl, — Stanley and Clara. He is a member 
of the orders of the K. of H., and theK. of 
P., and is a member of the German Evan- 
gelical Reformed St. Lucas Church, of 
Jeffersouville. 

JOHN C. ZULATJF is a native of Swit- 
zerland, and was born Oct. 26, 1864. He 
was brought to the United States by his par- 
ents in 1865, who located in the city of 
Jeff er son ville, Clark county, Ind., where he 
was reared from his early infancy, and 
where he resides now. He is a graduate 
of the DePauw University, at Greencastle, 
Ind., having graduated from that institution 
in 1885; and in fall of 1885 he entered the 
law department of University of Louisville, 
and graduated in April, 1886. He was, 
after graduation, admitted to the bar in Oc- 
tober, 1887, and entered upon the practice 
of his profession the same year. Although 
Mr. Zulauf is yet quite a young man he has 
become public spirited and has interested 
himself in the development and material 
progress of the city. A bridge for all pur- 
poses between the cities of Louisville and 
Jeffersouville would seem to be of the high- 
est importance to the prosperity of the lat- 
ter, and a company was organized under 
the name of the Louisville and Jeffersonville 
Bridge Company, of which Mr. Zulauf is 
one of the directors ; he has taken a strong 
interest in making it a success, and has 
made several visits to Washington City to 
to secure from the War Department the right 
of way across the Ohio river at the most 
suitable landing place on the Jeffersonville 
side. 

The Ohio Falls Street Car Company has 



been organized for constructing and oper- 
ating a street railroad in the city of Jeffer- 
sonville, composed of capitalists of Louis- 
ville and Jeffersonville. John C. Zulauf 
is president and business manager of that 
concern. 

He is Bepublican in politics and re- 
ceived the unanimous nomination as a 
candidate for Representative in the State 
legislature. 

. He is the son of John Zulauf and Wel- 
helmina (Sehoch) Zulauf. 

His father, John Zulauf, was born in 
Thurgan, Switzerland, December 27, 181S. 
He received a good education in the schools 
of his native country and in the college of 
Murten, Switzerland. After graduation 
Mr. Zulauf speut several years in per- 
forming clerical services in some of the 
large manufacturing establishments and 
banks in the different parts of Europe, 
which so eminently qualified him for the dis- 
charge of the many responsible duties which 
awaited him in this country. He spent 
one year in a bank at Marseilles, France, 
and several years in a large manufac- 
turing establishment in England. After 
which he returned home to Switzerland on 
account of his health. After rest and re- 
cuperation, he performed th_e reponsi- 
ble duties of head book-keeper for the 
large firm of Benziger & Co., but soon 
other duties awaited him, which brought 
him from the Old World to the United 
States, and thus changed the whole tenor 
of his life. 

A Mr. Fischli, a native of Switzerland, 
had previously come to the State of Indi- 
ana and had died there, leaving a large es- 
tate, mostly in lands, much of it where the 
city of Jeffersonville now stands, and in 
Jackson county and in other places, to his 
heirs, seventeen in number, residents of 
Switzerland. The amount and kind of 



46 



CLARK COUNTY. 



property, hard to realize from at that time, 
and the large number of heirs, all in a for- 
eign land, complicated matters to such an 
extent that it required an executor of more 
than ordinary abilities to settle the estate 
and make equitable distribution of the 
same among the heirs. Mr. Zulauf was, 
from his known ability and integrity, cho- 
sen for that service, and sent to the United 
States for that purpose. 

Fortified by full powers of attorney by 
the heirs of the Fischli estate, he came to 
America in 1846 and immediately entered 
upon the discharge of the duties intrusted 
to him, with full intent to close them up 
and return to his native land at the end of 
the year. But how little did he realize at 
that time the full extent of the business 
which he had assumed. But it soon came 
to him, that it was a labor of years if not a 
lifetime. While it dragged itself along 
through the courts, in 1848 he opened a 
lace store on Fourth avenue, in the city of 
Louisville, and about this time he was ap- 
pointed by the Swiss Government as Con- 
sul for the Western States. He held this 
position for several years, but desiring to 
return to his native home he relinquished 
it, and also closed his business house. 
About this t;ime the building of the Jeffer- 
sonville & Indianapolis Railroad was being 
agitated in Jeffersonville, and also along 



the contemplated line. Mr. Zulauf compre- 
hended at once the grand importance that 
the building of the road would be to the 
estate which he represented, and invested 
largely in the enterprise. At the death of 
William G. Armstrong, its president, Mr. 
Zulauf was elected to the vacancy. He 
held the position and ably performed the 
duties for a number of years. It had never 
been his intention to make the United 
States his permanent home. He still had 
his longing for his mountain home. After 
he had retired from the presidency of the 
Jeffersonville & Indianapolis Railroad he 
made a visit to Switzerland and remained 
there five years, but was again forced by 
business necessities connected with his 
trust to return again, which he did, bring- 
ing a wife and two children home with him. 
He was married in 1857 to Miss Wehle- 
mina Schoch. Her father was a promi- 
nent Government official of Bavaria, her 
native country, where she was raised and 
finely educated, who is now residing in Jef- 
fersonville. 

Mr. Zulauf's death occurred November 
7, 1873, occasioned, not only a loss to his 
devoted family, but to his neighbors and to 
the citizens of his adopted country in gen- 
eral. He was a finely educated gentleman, 
a fine linguist and well read in ancient 
and modern lore. 




GRAWPORD COUNTY. 



DR. GEO. W. BAYLOR was bom in 
Crawford county, Ind., March 27, 1849, and 
is a son of Andrew and Eliza (Hammond) 
Baylor, the former a native of Augusta 
county, Va., and the latter of Indiana. 
The elder Baylor, Andrew J., was a son of 
George Baylor, of German descent ; he came 
to Indiana in an early day and settled near 
Georgetown. George W., the subject of 
this sketch, was raised on the farm and 
educated in the public schools and at 
Salem Academy. He began reading medi- 
cine in 1869, with Dr. Saunders, of Mill- 
town. He graduated at the Louisville 
Medical College in 1876, and in 1882 grad- 
uated from the Kentucky School of Medi- 
cine, at Louisville, Ky. He has practiced 
at Milltown since his graduation. He was 
married September 4, 1870, to Miss Sallie 
J. Vance. She died November 4, 1872, 
leaving one child, Cora I. He married a 
second time, October 20, 1874, Alice A. 
Rhodes, a daughter of Rev. Jacob B. Rhodes. 
She has one child, Nellie E. Dr. Baylor has 
been one of the surgeons of the Air Line 
Railroad since its completion, and was health 
officer of the county one year. He is a 
prominent member of the Masonic and Odd 
Fellows' orders. Is a member of, and one 
of the trustees of the M. E. Church. 



JOHN BENZ, ex-State Senator, one of 
the prominent merchants and leading poli- 
ticians of Leavenworth, Crawford county, 
was born in Germany, March 9, 1S34. He 
is the son of Jacob and Mary Benz. After 



receiving a thorough and complete educa- 
tion, at the early age of 1 6 he came to 
America to seek his fortune, landing at 
New Orleans March 25, 1850. He speed- 
ily acquired a knowledge of our language 
and identified himself with American inter- 
ests, customs and institutions. 

He proceeded to Louisville, where he 
worked at his trade, that of tailor. After 
remaining there five years, he removed to 
St. Louis, where however he only remained 
some nine months, when he returned to 
Louisville. Not, however, feeling perfectly 
satisfied, he shortly after removed to Hawes- 
ville, Ky., and from there to Cannelton, 
Ind., where he was employed some four 
years. 

Having by that time, through the exercise 
of care and economy, accumulated a fair 
amount of money, he resolved to go into 
business on his own account, and decided 
upon Leavenworth as the point, it being a 
young and rising town. He there embarked 
in business as a general merchant, and 
such has been his success, through his own 
energy and perseverance, that he is now one 
of the largest and most successful merchants 
of the town. He is a man of enterprise, 
tact and energy, and one who enjoys in a 
high sense the honor and respect of his 
fellow-citizens wherever he has become 
known. Successful in his business career, 
he now enjoys a competence. 

Early in life he associated himself with 
the Democratic party, and has served most 
efficiently as Chairman of the Democratic 
Central Committee of Crawford county for 



48 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



about four years. In 1864 he was elected 
County Coroner for Crawford county ; in 
1874, School Trustee of Leavenworth; in 
1876, to the State Legislature from Craw- 
ford and Orange counties; in 1878, State 
Senator for Crawford and Harrison coun- 
ties. 

"While member of the Senate, was Chair- 
man of the Committee on Mines and Min- 
ing, and member of the Committee on 
Manufactories, Banks and Railroads, 

In 1883 his Senatorial District had been 
changed to include Orange county, and of 
this District he was again elected Senator, 
being the first time any man was ever hon- 
ored with renomination by his party. He 
was elected and served as Chairman of the 
Committee on Prisons, and also served as 
a member of the Committee on Military 
Affairs. In 1888 he was elected Township 
Trustee. He was appointed Marshal 
by Gov. Gray to collect the vote of his 
county and deliver it at Indianapolis in 
general election of fall of 1888. He was 
educated as a Lutheran, and now attends 
that church. 

He was married July 4, 1856, to Caro- 
line Nybauwer daughter of Carl Nybauwer, 
of Germany. They have had six children, 
three girls (one of whom is dead, one boy 
dead) and three boys. The two eldest sons 
are now employed in their father's store. 

Such is the record of one of Crawford 
county's most prominent citizens and one 
upon whom honors have been bestowed for 
his worth alone. 



DR. WILLIAM C. BIRD was born in 
Smith county, Tenn., March 14, 1833, and 
is a son of M. B. and Nancy (Mitchell) 
Bird — the former a native of North Caro- 
lina, and the latter of Smith county, Tenn. 
Dr. Wm. C. Bird worked on the farm until 



he was 21 years old, when he entered a 
store at English, Ind., and clerked for four 
years. He was married to Mary Newkirk 
in 1854, who bore three children, Mins B., 
John K. and Charles J., and then died. 
He entered the army in 1861, in Forty- 
ninth Indiana Vol. Infantry, and served 
three years. He began the study of medi- 
cine in 1866, and left the Medical College 
at Indianapolis in 1870, entering upon 
practice at Brownstown, Ind., where he re- 
mained two years, and then came to Eng- 
lish ; here he is the leading practitioner. In 
1869 he married Melissa Turner, of Craw- 
ford county. She had three children : Dora 
M. Bird (deceased), James W. and Queen 
Victoria. Dr. Bird has served as township 
trustee and township treasurer. He has 
been a member of the Masonic Order since 
1866, and has filled all the offices in the 
lodge. 

JAMES BOBBETT was born in Orange 
county, Ind., September 12, 1854, and is a 
son of John H. and Catherine (Goble) Bob- 
bett, natives of Tennessee and North Caro- 
lina respectively. The father of James, the 
subject, came to Crawford county in 1877. 
He had five sons, three of whom served in 
the late civil war. He has been a minister 
of the Gospel in the Christian Church for 
forty years, and has preached in many of 
the counties of Southern Indiana. He is 
about 73 years of age. James Bobbett 
was educated in the schools of his native 
county (Orange) and in Marengo Academy, 
under Prof. Johnson. He came to Craw- 
ford county and taught school for twelve 
years. In June, 1885, he was elected county 
superintendent of schools, and in 1886 was 
elected county auditor, the county being 
over 300 Democratic. In 1885 he began 
preaching the Gospel, and still preaches on 
Sundays. He was married in June, 1876, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



49 



to Miss Mattie B. Smith of Crawford 
county. She died in May, 1884, and he was 
married again in June, 1885, to Miss Lizzie 
Gresham, of Harrison county, a daughter 
of Elias Gresham. He had four children 
by his first wife, and one by his last wife. 
He belongs to Masonic and Odd Fellows 
fraternities. 

CHAELES A. A. BULLINGTON, law- 
yer, was born at White Sulphur Wells, 
Crawford county, Ind., January 26, 1858, 
and is a son of Dr. Wm. H. Bullington, 
who was born at Marengo, in this county, 
August 16, 1822, and has been a practic- 
ing physician in this county for thirty- 
seven years ; he studied medicine with Dr. 
E. E. Houston, of Stephensport, Ky. He 
was first lieutenant of Co. H., Twenty- 
third Indiana Vols., in the late war. His 
wife's maiden name was Louisa Kennedy, 
and she was born at Brandenburg, Ky., in 
1823. Her parents died when she was 
very young, and she was raised by the 
Warfield family, of Kentucky. She mar- 
ried Dr. Bullington in 1843. Charles A., 
the subject, was brought up on the farm, 
and educated at Marengo Academy. He 
studied law, and graduated from the law 
department of the University of Louisville, 
April 13, 1888. He located at English, 
having lived there before graduating in the 
law ; he was postmaster of English under 
Presidents Garfield and Arthur. He was in 
the mercantile business at English, the 
firm being Bullington & Temple Brothers ; 
the partnership was formed in 1881, and 
continued for three and a half years. 
After this he went into the law school, and 
entered upon the practice at English. He 
is a Mason and a member of Crawford 
Lodge, No, 470, English, Ind. His grand- 
father, Eobert Bullington, was bom in 
Jonesboro, Tenn., and moved to Crawford 



county in 1800, among the pioneers. His 
Grandmother Bullington was Mary Weath- 
ers, of Marengo, who was born in North 
Carolina. Mr. Bullington's brothers and 
sisters are — Willis W., Edward L., Lewis 
M., Delila A., Martha F., George Ann and 
William Louisa. 



DE. WILLIAM A. COLE is a native of 
Harrison county, Ind., and was born Sept. 
7, 1854. He is a son of Jonathan P. and 
Lettie (Briscoe) Cole, the latter also a na- 
tive of Harrison county. Jonathan P. was 
born in Harrison county in 1818. He was 
a farmer, stock-dealer and merchant; his 
grandfather, Eichard Cole, was an English- 
man, and was sent to Ireland as an officer 
of the Crown, but was banished on account 
of his outspoken views. 

He came to America, settling among the 
early pioneers in Harrison county. Jona- 
than P. was in the pursuit and at the cap- 
ture of the Eebel Gen. John Morgan, when 
he made his raid through Indiana and Ohio. 
Dr. William A.'s maternal grandmother 
was an own cousin to President Lincoln. 
His maternal grandfather was of the Bar- 
low family of Kentucky. Dr. William A., 
the subject of this sketch, was reared on 
the farm until he was fifteen years old, 
when he entered the Blue Eiver Academy, 
in Washington county, then the Paoli High 
School. During vacation he clerked in his 
father's store, run a huckster's wagon, and 
did various other kinds of work to take up 
his time. Also taught two schools in Craw- 
ford and Martin counties. 

In 1875 he commenced the study of 
medicine under Dr. Lee Hazelwood, of 
Valeene, Ind., and the next year entered the 
Miami Medical College at Cincinnati. 
Graduating from the Medical Department 
of the University of Louisville, Ky., in 



so 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



187'J, he entered upon the practice of med- 
icine in Martin county, and practiced in 
that county and Dubois, Pike and Daviess 
counties until 1885, when he took charge 
of Hazelwood Springs, at English, Ind., 
opening them as a summer resort, and 
superintended them for two years. In 1888 
he severed his connection with the Springs 
and resumed active practice of his chosen 
profession at English, Ind., where he still 
lives. Dr. Cole's brothers and sisters are : 
Dr. John A. Cole, Nancy E., Margaret I., 
Carrie F., Ollive H., Emma H., Prof. Mon- 
ford M., Alice J., Cora C. 

He was married April 25, 1883, to Miss 
Alice Hazelwood, of Valeene, oldest daugh- 
ter of Dr. Lee Hazelwood. They have two 
children, Mary L. and Georgia L. 

Dr. Cole has been a Mason twelve years, 
and is Senior Warden of Crawford Lodge, 
No. 470. 

BOBEBT MAEION CRAIG was born 
in Harrison county, Ind., July 28, 1833, and 
is a son of William and Elizabeth (Meyers) 
Craig, natives of Pennsylvania and Virgin- 
ia respectively. William Craig was the 
son of Jesse Craig, who emigrated from 
Pennsylvania about the year 1811, and set- 
tled in Harrison county, on Blue Eiver. 
Elizabeth Meyers Craig was a daughter of 
John Meyers, a native of Virginia. The 
subject of this sketch was raised on a farm 
and educated in the common schools. 

He enlisted November 7, 1861, in Co. 
F, Forty -ninth Indiana Vol. Infantry, and 
served until Nov. 29, 1864, when, his time 
having expired, he was honorably dis- 
charged . 

He was in all the battles in which his regi- 
ment took part, including the siege of Vicks- 
burg. He entered the service as a private 
and was mustered out as a first lieutenant, 
which is a guarantee of his good service as 



a soldier. After his term of service had 
expired he returned home and settled down 
to the quiet life of a farmer, and was mar- 
ried January 5, 1865, to Sarah C. Breeden, 
daughter of Bryant Breeden, a native of 
Harrison county. They have three chil- 
dren, viz : Dora, Alta and Eobert M. Mr. 
Craig commenced clerking in 1875, con- 
tinuing the same until 18S7, when he en- 
gaged in the mercantile business for him- 
self in Leavenworth. He carries a good 
stock, worth about $3,000, and is an ener- 
getic and active business man. He has 
filled several township offices with great 
acceptability. He is a G. A. E. member. 



CLAEK H. CEECILIUS was born Octo- 
ber 7, 1847, in Crawford county, Ind., and 
is a son of Philip and Drucilla (Enlow) 
Crecilius, natives of Tennessee, but who 
came to this State among the pioneers. 
His grandfather came from Germany in an 
early day. His parents died when he was 
but four years of age, and his early life was 
marked by toil and poverty. For a few 
years after the death of his parents he 
found a home with John Glosson, and was 
then bound to Thomas Highhill, of Harrison 
county, with whom he remained eight years, 
when his master died. He then lived with 
James Highhill until 1862, when he came 
to Leavenworth, and was given employment 
by J. H. Lyon, a merchant of that place. 
Up to this time he had had few advantages 
for receiving an education, but while with 
Mr. Lyon he studied at odd times and 
clerked at $10 per month with "board and 
washing" included. In June, 1863, he en- 
listed in Co. C, Seventy-fourth Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close 
of the war. On his discharge from the army 
he returned to the employment of Mr. 
Lyon, remaining one year. Afterward he 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



51 



attended Hartsville University for six 
months. He then entered the employment 
of John S. Whitten, remaining with him 
until 1870, when he was elected Recorder 
of the county, and in 1874 was re-elected. 
At the expiration of his second term, he 
was elected County Treasurer, and re- 
elected in 1SS2. In 1S85 he was elected 
joint-representative from the counties of 
Crawford and Orange, and served in the 
Fifty-fourth General Assembly. He next 
engaged in mercantile business at Marengo, 
which he followed about two and a half 
years, acting postmaster the while, and then , 
located at Leavenworth. In 1889 he was 
appointed clerk to the Ways and Means 
Committee of the National House of Repre- 
sentatives. In 1869, Mr. Crecilius was 
married to Miss Katie Wilbur, a daughter 
of Joseph Wilbur, whose father, William 
Wilbur, was the second settler of the town. 
The latter was from New York, and was a 
soldier in the war of 1812, serving through 
the struggle as drum-major. The Wilburs 
removed from New York to Pennsylvania, 
and to Indiana about the year 1824, set- 
tling in Crawford county, near Leavenworth. 
Joseph Wilbur, the father of Mrs. Crecilius, 
was born in New York in 181-4. and was 
married at the age of twenty years to Sarah 
Patrick, a daughter of Brice Patrick, Esq., 
an early settler of the county. Mr. and 
Mrs. Crecilius have had six children, viz : 
Hallie, Frank, Clyde, Sadie, Florence and 
Grade. Hallie is married to Sherman W. 
Stewart, and lives at Marengo. The other 
children are at home. 



WILLIAM R. DUNN was born in Alton, 
Crawford county, Ind.,in July, 1S43, and is 
a son of William and Melissa (Leese) Dunn, 
the latter a daughter of one of Clark coun- 
ty's pioneer citizens. The elder Dunn was 



a native of Virginia, came to Indiana in 
1840, and built the Fullenwider Water Mills 
in this county. 

The subject of this sketch was reared in 
the town of Alton, and educated in the 
common schools. At the age of 18 he 
enlisted in the Union army, and served in 
the late "unpleasantness" three years and 
eleven months. He enlisted in Co. K, 
Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 
and served until theclose of the war as mu- 
sician. When the war was over he returned 
home and engaged in carpentering, which 
he followed until 1881, when he became a 
partner in the Peckinpaugh, Harrison & 
Co. Mills, more fully mentioned in the 
sketch of Abraham N. Peckinpaugh. 

He was married in 1866 to Miss Martha 
V. Johnson, a daughter of one of the early 
settlers of Breckenridge county, Ky. They 
have two children, Marcia V. and Jesse T. 
Besides these two, they have furnished a 
home to Marcia W. Newhouse, a relative of 
Mrs. Dunn. Mr. Dunn, his wife and chil- 
dren, are consistent members of the M. E. 
Church. 

WILLIAM EVERDON was born in 
Crawford county, Ind., January 6, 1860, 
and is a son of William P. and Sarah J. 
(Byrley) Everdon, natives of Switzerland 
and Crawford county respectively. Wm. 
P. Everdon was born January 4, 1827, and 
came to this country about 1847. He en- 
gaged in farming and saw-milling. He 
was not worth five dollars when he came 
to the county, and at his death his estate 
was worth about $55,000. Peter Byrley, 
the maternal grandfather of William Ever- 
don, came from North Carolina, and set- 
tled in Whisky Run township. William, 
the subject of this sketch, was reared in 
this (Crawford) county, and began life in 
the sawmill business in 1S81, and has 



52 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



now two saw-mills — one in town and one 
out in the country. January, 1 889, he en- 
gaged in general mercantile business with 
Mr. E. E. Richardson, and they are doing 
a large and profitable business. He was 
married November 30, 1884, to Miss Alice 
J. Tower. They have three children, viz : 
Lela L., William P. and Nathlie Irene. 
William Everdon is a member of the I. 0. 
0. F., and is a stirring and live business 
man and a prosperous citizen. 



JACOB FUNKHOUSEE sprung from 
genuine pioneer stock, his parents settling 
in Indiana among the earliest pioneers. 
He was born in Harrison county, Ind., in 
June, 1821, and is a son of Moses and 
Susan (Lopp) Fnnkhouser — the former 
was born in Shenandoah county, Va., and 
the latter in North Carolina, — and the 
grandson of Christian Fnnkhouser. Moses 
Funkhouser came to Indiana in 1808, and 
settled in Harrison county, where he pur- 
chased 400 acres of land in the (then) un- 
broken forest. There he reared a family 
of five children, three sons and two daugh- 
ters. The sons are David, Jacob (the 
subject of this sketch) and Philip ; and 
daughters, Barbara and Margaret. The 
Funkhousers are of German origin, and 
are among the best families of Virginia. 
The Lopps are also of German origin, and 
were early settlers in North Carolina. 
Jacob, the subject of this sketch, was raised 
on the farm, and received but a limited 
education, attending school only during 
the Winter months, at a little log school- 
house three miles distant from his home. 
He married in 1845, Mary L. Winder, a 
daughter of James G. and Ruth (Cahoe) 
Winder, pioneers of Harrison county, and 
natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky re- 
spectively. The former, James G. Winder, 



was a prominent local politician, and a 
lineal descendant of Gen. Winder, of Revo- 
lutionary fame. Her maternal grandfather 
Cahoe, was an aid to Gen. Washington 
during the Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. 
Funkhouser had nine children, seven of 
whom lived to the years of maturity, viz. : 
James L., Zachary T., Hugh C, William 
H., Laura E., Albert W. and Arthur F. 
The eldest son, James L., was educated in 
the common schools and at Hartville Uni- 
versity, graduating from the latter in 1872, 
and from that time to 1S84 he filled the 
. chair of ancient languages in the institu- 
tion. He is now engaged in farming and 
stock raising, in Bartholomew county, Ind. 
He is a member of the order of K. of P. 
Zachary T., after fitting himself, entered 
Hartsville University, after which he en- 
gaged in the ministry of the United Breth- 
ren Church, remaining in it for five years. 
In 1887 he located at Corydon in the prac- 
tice of dentistry, and is now at Oakland 
City, successfully engaged in his profession. 
He is a member of I. O. 0. F. Hugh C. 
was born in 1853, graduated at Hartsville 
University, and attended the Union Biblical 
Seminary, at Dayton, Ohio. He is a mem- 
ber of the order of F. A. M. He is a min- 
ister in the Congregational Church at 
Kaukauna, Wis. 

William H. was educated in the common 
schools and Hartsville University, and af- 
terward graduated from the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Louisville, and 
the Louisville Medical College in 1884 and 
1885 respectively. Since then he has 
practiced his profession in Corydon. 
Laura E., after receiving a good education 
married Frank Tyner, a prosperous young 
farmer of Bartholomew county and cousin 
of ex-Postmaster General Tyner. Albert 
W., like his brothers, was well educated, 
finishing at DePauw University, Greencas- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



53 



tie, Ind., and in 1884 began readiug law 
with W. N. & R. J. Tracewell, at Cory- 
don. He remained there until 1887 when 
he removed to Leavenworth and entered 
upon the practice of his chosen profession 
in partnership with R. J. Tracewell. 

In 1886 he was the Republican candi- 
date for prosecuting attorney, but was de- 
feated by 281 votes, cutting down the Dem- 
ocratic from 1,060 votes. He is a member 
of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and of 
the I. 0. 0. F. Arthur F. the youngest 
son attended the common schools, gradua- 
ted from the High School in Corydon, then 
entered DePauw University at Greencastle, 
and after completing the first two years of 
the scientific course, "Asbury College of Lib- 
eral Arts, " he served three years as prin- 
cipal of the public schools of the county. 
He also was a member of the Phi Delta 
Theta College fraternity. Then took up 
the study of law with W. N. & R, J. 
Tracewell, and after three years, study re- 
moved to Leavenworth and began editing 
the Crawford County Republican, of that 
place. He has made one trip South, visit- 
ing the principal cities in that section, and 
also a trip to Wisconsin and the Northwest. 
He is an enterprising young man, and aside 
from the time required as editor, is yet pur- 
suing his law studies with a view of enter- 
ing the profession. 

It is to some extent to his energy and 
fearlessness as an editor that the notorious 
"White Caps" were extinguished from this 
county. 

DR. JOHN H. GIBBS is a native of 
Indiana, and was bom in Harrison county 
April 19, 1843. He is a son of William 
and Sarah (Spencer) Gibbs, the latter a 
daughter of James Spencer, of Crawford 
county ; the former, William Gibbs, was 
born in Crawford county, November 20, 



1820, and was a farmer and miller. He 
was elected county commissioner of Craw- 
ford county, and died October 1, 18S0, 
before Iris term was out. His father, Jas. 
R. Gibbs, was a native of North Carolina, 
and moved to Crawford county, Ind., among 
the pioneers. Dr. John H. was reared on 
the farm, and educated in the common 
schools and at Hartsville College. He com- 
menced the study of medicine in 1866, 
under Dr. J. F. Sanders, of Milltown, and 
took his first course of lectures at Ann 
Arbor, Mich., graduating in 1872 from the 
Louisville Medical College. He commenced 
the practice of his chosen profession in Gib- 
son county, Ind., where he remained for ten 
years, removing to Milltown in 18S3, where 
he now resides. He was married in 1 866, 
to Celia Riley, daughter of John and Han- 
nah Riley, of Bartholomew county, Ind., 
and a graduate of Hartsville University. 
They have four children living, viz : Ellis 
B., Elizabeth E., William and Lillian. He 
is a member of the Baptist Church, and 
also of the Odd Fellows. He is permanent 
secretary of his Lodge, having passed 
"through the chairs" and been representa- 
tive to the Grand Lodge. 



HENRY C. GREEN was born in Harri- 
son county, Ind., August 6, 1839, and is a 
son of Coleman and Nancy (Kurl) Green, 
the latter a daughter of Bennett Kurl, a 
native of Virginia, and whose father was 
a Revolutionary soldier. The elder Green 
(subject's father) was also a native of 
Virginia, and a son of Peter Green 
of that State. Coleman Green came to 
Indiana about 1824, and settled in Harrison 
county. He was a soldier in the War of 
1812, and had four sons in the late war. 
Henry C, the subject, was reared on a farm 
and moved to Crawford county in 1860. 



54 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



When the war broke out he shouldered 
his gun and served until his health gave 
way, when he was discharged on account 
of disability. 

He then resumed farming, and in 1S67 
was married to Louisa Kendall, a daughter 
of Elijah Kendall. Mr. Green has never 
been an office seeker. 

He is a member of Courtney Post, G. A. 
R. He owns 100 acres of good land well 
improved. He is a consistent and zealous 
member of the Methodist Church at Grants- 
burg, and leader of the class there. 



EMANUEL R. HAWN, M. D., deceased, 
was born in Clermont county, 0., Septem- 
ber 11, 1831, and was a son of Emanuel 
and Harriet (Bell) Hawu, natives of Mary- 
land and Ohio respectively. Emanuel R., 
the subject of this sketch, was reared in 
Ohio, and received a liberal education in 
the schools of that State, graduating from 
a literary college at Richmond, 0. He 
came to Crawford county, Intl., and locat- 
ed at Alton in 1851, and commenced the 
practice of medicine, having read medicine 
and graduated from the Ohio Medical Col- 
lege before leaving that State. 

He served through the Mexican war and 
was in several battles ; and at the breaking 
out of the late civil war, in 1861, he joined 
the Seventeenth Indiana regiment, as a 
lieutenant, and was immediately promoted 
to captain. He was afterward transferred 
to First Indiana Heavy Artillery as sur- 
geon, and subsequently to Forty-ninth In- 
diana Volunteer Infantry, and served as 
surgeon of this regiment until 1864, when 
he was placed in charge of a hospital at 
Louisville, Ky. He remained there only 
two months, when Gov. Morton called him 
to take charge of One hundred and forty- 
fourth Indiana regiment, and he was sent 



with it to Virginia. He was chief surgeon 
over four different regiments during his 
term of service. 

When the war was over he located in In- 
dianapolis, where he remained one year, 
and then came to Leavenworth, and was 
postmaster under Presidents Grant and 
Hayes, and pension examiner. In 1880 
was elected secretaiy of state. He died 
in 1S84, while holding the office of secre- 
tary of Board of Health. 

In 1854 he married Miss Mary E. Hol- 
croft, a native of Crawford county, and 
a daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth 
(Smoots) Holcroft, natives of Virginia. 
He has six children living, viz : Ada, Elijah, 
Elizabeth, John A., Clem, and Emanuel. 
John was born November 27, 1864, and is 
a physician, graduated from the University 
of Louisville in 1884, and began practice 
at once in Leavenworth. His father was 
a prominent Mason and Knight of Honor. 
His mother, Mrs. Hawn, keeps a hotel in 
Leavenworth. 



CAPT. ELIJAH P. E. HOLCROFT was 
born in Harrison county, Ind., in 1824, and 
is a son of Nathaniel Holcroft. He was edu- 
cated in the common schools, and at the 
age of twenty-two years began business 
with his brother at Alton, Ind., which he 
followed some eight years. He then en- 
gaged in steamboating, commanding steam- 
ers in the Louisville and Henderson Packet 
Company's service, until the name of Capt. 
Holcroft became a familiar one on the Ohio. 

After about three years' service on the 
river, he opened a general store, and fol- 
lowed flatboating for about eleven years. 
He now has a general store at Alton, and 
carries about $5,000 worth of goods. He 
owns real estate in Crawford county, in 
Tennessee and Missouri. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



55 



He was married in 1846 to Miss Mary 
A. Rice, a daughter of Jacob Rice, a native 
of Pennsylvania, but who emigrated to 
Kentucky in pioneer times, and who was 
in Hardin's Fort, now Hardinsburg, coun- 
ty-seat of Breckinridge county, Ky., during 
the Indian period in the "Dark and Bloody 
Ground." Captain and Mrs. Holcroft have 
had nine children, viz : Nathaniel S., Ella, 
Ada, Benjamin, Cora, Elizabeth, James K., 
Elijah, Millie and Helen. Nathaniel, Cora 
and Elijah are at home; Ada is married 
and lives in Kentucky, Ella in Brownsville, 
Mo., Elizabeth in Kansas, Helen in Texas, 
Benjamin lives in Evansville, Ind., and 
James in Missouri. Capt. Holcroft is an 
influential and prominent citizen, and one 
of the solid men of the county. 



DR. WILLIAM HOLLAND was bom 
in Hopkins county, Ky., February 26, 
1819, and is a son of Thomas and Kath- 
erine (Beck) Holland, — the latter, bom in 
Germany, came to America with her 
parents when but six j'ears of age. Thomas 
Holland, subject's father, was also born in 
Germany, in 1788, and came to America 
with his parents when nine years of age, 
settling in Hopkins county, where he died 
in 1834. He was a man of some local 
prominence, and was associate judge, and 
also sheriff of Hopkins county. He was a 
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church. Stephen Holland, his father, 
came from Germany to America to enlist 
with the Americans in the Revolutionary 
war, and for his service he was given a 
grant of land in Kentucky, upon which he 
settled, lived and died. His wife died in 
Kentucky, at the age of 106 years. 
Stephen Beck, the maternal grandfather 
of Dr. William, was a native of Germany 
— he came to America, fought through the 



Revolutionary war, and died soon after its 
close, from a wound received while in 
active duty. The subject, Dr. William, 
was raised on a farm, and, when eighteen, 
went to Geneva, N. Y., to go to school, and 
while there (four years) he learned the 
cabinet maker's trade. After his return he 
went to Ann Arbor, Mich., to study medi- 
cine. He read there three years, and then 
went to Chicago, and entered the Rush 
Medical College, from which he graduated. 
He commenced practice at Wheeling, 111., 
but in a short time located at Joliet, 111., 
where he practiced for about twelve years, 
and then removed to Chanrpaign, 111. He 
was appointed surgeon at Fort Snelling, in 
Minnesota, which position he filled for 
for two years. . In 1863 he removed to 
Paoli, Orange county, Ind., practicing his 
profession until 1882, when he opened a 
drug store, carrying on the same until 
1886, when he sold out and opened a 
hotel. He removed to Milltown, on the 
Airline Railroad, where he now resides. 
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. 
He was married in 1853, at Champaign, 
111., to Mary Hay, a native of Oswego, N. Y. 
They have seven children, viz : Alice, An- 
toinette, William H., Mary E., Eliza A., 
Bessie P. and Ethel Gertrude, all of whom 
are living. 

DAVID JENKINS was born in Indiana 
in 1829, and is a son of John F. and a 
grandson of Enoch Jenkins, the latter a 
native of Virginia, who was among the 
early settlers of Kentucky. He was a 
ranger in the service of the Government 
on the frontier during the trying scenes of 
the war of 1812. 

David Jenkins, the subject of this sketch, 
was raised on a farm and educated in the 
old log school-house, with the puncheon 
floor and slab seats. He began flatboat- 



56 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



ing at the age of 15 years, and continued 
the same of to 1870, except during the 
civil war. He served in every capacity 
from deck-hand to pilot. He was married 
in 1851 to Joanna Jones, a daughter of 
John and Jane Jones, natives of Kentucky. 
They have seven children, viz : Eufus A., 
Jane E., George F., Mary M., Thomas M., 
Ulysses S. and Daniel M. Mr. Jenkins is 
postmaster at Cape Sandy. 

He owns three acres of ground , in which 
his business house is situated. He does a 
general merchant business, carrying a 
stock of about $3,500. His children are 
not all married ; and three of them live in 
Illinois, the others live in Indiana. 



WILLIAM E. JENNER is a native of 
Indiana, and was born in Milltown, No- 
vember 4, 1839. He is a son of Stephen 
R. and Mary Ann (Lawson) Jenner. The 
former is a native of Pennsylvania, and 
was born in 1816; removed to Kentucky 
in 1828, and to Crawford county, Ind., in 
1836. His father, Samuel Jenner, was a 
native also of Pennsylvania, and was a 
soldier of the War of 1812. The latter, 
Mary Ann Lawson Jenner, was born in 
Cincinnati, 0. ; from thence her father 
moved to Louisville, and thence to New 
Albany, and from there to Meade county, 
Ky. He was a native of Lancashire, Eng- 
land, and was the first machinist who 
started a machine shop in Cincinnati or 
Louisville for the manufacture of cotton 
machinery. Wm. E. learned harness-mak- 
ing and blacksmithing, and received a 
good practical education in the common 
schools of Crawford county. He served in 
the Federal army during the late "unpleas- 
antness," and was sergeant-major of the 
Fifty -third Indiana Vol. Infantry. He 
served three years and eight months, when 



the war closed and, like Othello, he found 
his occupation gone. After leaving the 
army he farmed and taught school for four 
years, then opened a tin store in Old Ma- 
rengo, — he is the oldest resident of New 
Marengo, and farmed the land where it 
now stands. He has practiced dentistry 
for seventeen years in connection with his 
other business. He was elected justice of 
the peace in 1880, and has been twice re- 
elected. He is a member of the G. A. R. 
and commander of his Post. Is also a 
member of the Knights and Ladies of Hon- 
or. He was married February 13, 1866, 
to Sallie J. Waltz, of Marengo. They 
have four children living and one dead : 
James W., Tuda R. E. (deceased), Harry 
W., Lycurgus L. and Gertie L. 



JAMES U. LASWELL was born in Rock 
Castle county, Ky., June 6, 1836, and is a 
son of James B. and Mary (Singleton) Las- 
well, both natives of the same county. 
They moved to Indiana and settled in 
Crawford county in 1856. The former was 
born March 20, 1806, and the latter in 
1812. James U., the subject, was reared 
on the farm, and at the age of 20 entered 
the cotton mills at Cannelton, Ind., and 
took charge of a section of looms, but quit 
it after five years' service, on account of bad 
health. 

He removed to Logan county, Ky., and 
engaged in farming and saw-milling. He 
removed back to Indiana in 18S4, located 
at Taswell and opened a general store, and 
at the same time engaged in the timber 
business. He moved to English in 18SS, 
and took charge of the English hotel. In 
1858 he was married to Mary E. Johnson, 
of Logan county, Ky., a graduate of the 
Russelville Female College. She bore two 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



57 



children — Douglas and Mary (the latter 
deceased), and died in 1860. 

He married again, in 1861, Mary Rogers, 
of Logan county, Ky., who has borne nine 
children, viz : Joseph, Ernma, Fanny, 
Mary, James M., Humas C, Rogers, Mag- 
gie and Lela. Mr. Laswell is a Mason, and 
he and his wife are members of the Presby- 
terian Church. 



DANIEL LYON, deceased, was born in 
Vermont in 1802, and was raised on a 
farm. He was educated in the common 
schools, and while a young man removed 
to Bullitt county, Ky., where he married 
Margaret Wells, daughter of one of the 
pioneers of that county. His father was 
Timothy Lyon, also a native of Vermont, 
whose ancestors came from England. He 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. 
Daniel, the subject, moved to Leavenworth 
in 1820, and in 1830 began building skiffs, 
which are known far and wide as the 
"Leavenworth Skiffs." The firm is known 
as the D. Lyon Skiff Company. This busi- 
ness he continued until 1883, when he 
died. Mr. and Mrs. Lyon raised seven 
children, as follows : Amanda, Lavinia, 
Malinda, Rosilla, Preston, Eldorado and 
Wallace. Since the death of Mr. Lyon his 
business has been carried on by the eldest 
and youngest son. At present it is carried 
on by the youngest son. Wallace was mar- 
ried in 1876 to Jennie Lathrop, a daughter 
of Wilson Lathrop, and had six children. 
Mrs. Lyon died in 1882 and he married 
Susan Wilkins, daughter of David Wil- 
kins. Three children was the result of 
this marriage, viz : Guy, Ray and Carl. 



HAMILTON MARTIN was born in 
Crawford county, Ind., May 23, 1834, and 



is a son of John and Nancy (McRae) 
Martin, the former born in Kentucky in 
1801, near Covington; his father, Edward 
Martin, lived for many years in Kentucky, 
and about 1820 removed with his family to 
Indiana, settling near Mt. Sterling, the first 
county-seat of Crawford county, and was 
one of the pioneers; the latter Nancy 
McRae Martin, was born in North Carolina, 
and was a daughter of Alexander McRae, a 
native of Scotland. (For sketch of McRaes, 
see elsewhere in this volume.) Hamilton 
Martin, the subject of this sketch, was 
raised on a farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools. He was married at the age 
of 21 years to Miss Mary E. Seaton, a 
daughter of James Seaton, native of Penn- 
sylvania and of German origin. He fol- 
lowed fanning until the commencement of 
the Civil War, when, in November, 1861, he 
enlisted in Co. H, Forty-ninth Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, participating in all 
the battles of this regiment ; was wounded 
in 1862; was with Gen. Grant in the rear 
of Vicksburg. In May, 1863, he was cap- 
tured and taken to Libby Prison, but was 
kept there but a short time, when he was 
paroled ; in November he was exchanged, 
and again entered the service with his old 
regiment. He was discharged November 
29, 1S64, and then enlisted in the One 
hundred and forty-fourth Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry, in which he served to the close of 
the war. He entered the service as a 
private, and was mustered out as first 
lieutenant. Since he left the service he 
has been justice of the peace from 1868 to 
1876, and has been postmaster at Grants- 
burg since 1879 (except one year), and 
was elected county commissioner in 1886 ; 
has been in the mercantile business in 
Grantshurg since 1879, and has a good 
business; carries about a four thousand 
dollar ($4,000) stock of goods. 



58 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



Mr. and Mrs. Martin have two children, 
named Anna and Willie E. Anna married 
Riley Tadloek, and Willie married Miss 
Emma Conway, and is at home. 



PETER M. OUEBBACHEB, a merchant 
of Leavenworth, was horn Aug. 16, 1846, 
in this town, and is a son of Michael and 
Sarah (Lory) Ouerbacher, natives of Ger- 
many. The former came to Leavenworth, 
where he did a general trading on the river 
to New Orleans. Peter M., the subject of 
this sketch, was reared in Leavenworth, 
and received such education as the schools 
of the place afforded. Upon arriving at 
manhood he engaged in the wharf business, 
which continued about twelve years alto- 
gether. In the meantime he and his bro- 
ther Joseph moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., 
and was in business there for three years. 
In 1883 he engaged in general mercantile 
business at Leavenworth, dealing in dry 
goods, groceries, hardware, etc , carrying a 
stock valued at about $7,000. He was 
married in 1875, Miss Flora Dachamp, of 
Harrison county, Ind. She died in 1878, 
and in 1879 he married Ada C, a daughter 
of Dr. E. E. Hawn, deceased. He had 
one child by first marriage — Briddie, and 
one by last — Gertie. He is an Odd Fellow 
and a Knight of Honor. 



STEPHEN C. PATTON was bom in 
Crawford county, Ind., July 30, 1852, and 
is a son of William and Louise (Laswell) 
Patton. The former was born in Orange 
county in 1815, and moved to Crawford 
county in 1855. Stephen, the subject, was 
reared on a farm, and continued the busi- 
ness until 1882, when he opened a general 
store in Orange county, continuing the 
business in the county four years, when he 



removed to English and opened a livery 
stable. After continuing this business 
a while he opened a drug-store. He was 
married in 1873 to Miss Elizabeth Longest, 
of Crawford county. They have five chil- 
dren, viz : Idena, Carrie, Fanny, Joseph 
W. and Nancy G. Mr. Patton is a pros- 
perous and energetic business man and an 
excellent citizen. 



NICHOLAS R. PECKINPAUGH, a na- 
tive of Crawford county, Ind., was born 
March 7, 1845, eight miles below Leaven- 
worth, on the Ohio river. His father, Peter 
Peckinpaugh, was a native of Breckinridge 
county, Ky., and his mother, Susan (Gold- 
man) Peckinpaugh, was a native of Craw- 
ford county, Ind. His father settled in 
Crawford county in 1818, was a farmer, 
and kept a woodyard on the river bank for 
steamboats. N. E. was educated at the 
Louisville University, entering at 18 and re- 
maining two years. He began the study of 
law at Leavenworth in 1868, with his 
brother, William H., and Col. Horatio 
Woodbury, and was admitted to the bar in 
1869, and later to practice in the Supreme 
Court of Indiana. Was an Internal Eevenue 
gauger in 1872 ; was a delegate to the Na- 
tional Eepublican Convention that nomina- 
ted Eutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency ; 
was an elector on the Garfield Presideutal 
ticket in 1880, and made the race for 
prosecuting attorney against Judge Eein- 
hart, and later against John Benz for State 
Senator, reducing the majority of the Demo- 
crats about 400. He was married May 8, 
1868, to Mary M. Ouerbacher, of Crawford 
county, and they have seven children. Mr. 
Peckinpaugh is a fine public speaker, and 
a power on the stump in a political cam- 
paign. He was in May, 1887, appointed 
by the New Albany Presbytery a commis- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



59 



sioner to the General Assembly that met at 
Omaha, Neb. He is an active member of 
the Masonic fraternity, and has been 
master of Leavenworth Lodge. He is also 
a prominent and enterprising citizen of 
Southern Indiana. 

Major Peckinpaugh is an applicant for 
the office of U. S. Attorney for the dfttrict 
of Indiana under the new administration. 
His supporters for this place are among the 
best lawyers and politicians of the State. 
His ability as a lawyer and as an advocate 
merits the place ; then his Republicanism is 
of the highest grade. He spares neither 
time nor money for the success of his 
party. 

JOHN I. PECKINPAUGH was born in 

Ohio township, Crawford county, Ind., April 
1, 1837, and is the oldest son of Nicholas and 
Eleanor (Shekell) Peckinpaugh; the latter 
was a daughter of Abraham and Rebecca 
(Coy) Shekell, of Kentucky. Nicholas 
Peckinpaugh was born in Breckenridge 
county, Ky., January 1, 1810, and was a 
son of John Peckinpaugh, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, who moved to Kentucky and 
settled in Breckenridge county among the 
first settlers. A little later he and his 
friends removed to Indiana, and settled in 
what is now Crawford county, when Indians 
were still plenty. 

John Peckinpaugh built the first "wood- 
boat" on the Ohio, which he kept for years 
and supplied steamboats with wood. 
Nicholas Peckinpaugh was a man of some 
prominence and served three terms in the 
Legislature. The family settled here how- 
ever before the era of steamboats. When 
they first came they had to keep guard over 
the men to protect them from the Indians, 
while at work building their cabins, clear- 
ing grounds and making their first crop. 
To procure supplies, such as sugar and 



coffee, and salt (this was before Moorman's 
Salt Works at Brandenburg), they went up 
the river to the Falls in a pirogue, which is a 
kind of canoe dug out of a tree, and brought 
down these articles of necessity to their 
settlements. 

John I. Peckinpaugh, the subject, relates 
the following pioneer incidents of his grand- 
father's residence in Kentucky : He (sub- 
ject's grandfather) and one of his brothers 
were going to school, when he was struck 
with a presentiment that he must run. His 
brother was crippled with "stone bruises" 
and could not run, but he started in a pretty 
rapid trot, and had proceeded but a short 
distance when he saw some Indians con- 
cealed by the path. He sheared around and 
ran as fast as his legs could carry him, but 
had not gone far before he hears his brother 
scream, by which he knew the Indian had 
captured hinn He ran home and told the 
dismal story, and at once the neighbors 
were aroused and started in pursuit of the 
savages, whom they overtook just as they 
reached the Ohio river. When the savages 
saw they must be overhauled, they toma- 
hawked their prisoner and threw him into 
the river. 

Nicholas Peckinpaugh died in 1859; his 
widow is still living. John I. Peckinpaugh, 
the subject of this sketch, was raised on a 
farm, and received such education as the 
country schools afforded. In January, 1860, 
he married Lavina T. Williams, of Perry 
county, Ind., a daughter of Garret Williams 
from Tennessee, a native of North Carolina, 
and one of the earliest settlers about Troy, 
Ind. 

Mr. and Mrs. Peckinpaugh have four 
children living, viz : Frank, Emnia, Nellie 
and Thomas, all of whom are at home. 
Mr. P. owns 432 acres of good land on the 
river, well improved and in a high state of 
cultivation. He is a zealous member of. 



CO 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



the Masonic fraternity, and with his family 
are church members. He has never held 
office, but has devoted his time and talents 
to his family and their support. 



ABRAHAM N. PECKINPAUGH was 
born in Crawford county, Feb. 13, 1839, 
and is a son of Nicholas and Eleanor (She- 
kell) Peckinpaugh, who were among the 
first permanent settlers of the county. (For 
particulars of family history, see sketch of 
John I. Peckinpaugh.) Abraham, the subject 
of this sketch, was reared on a farm near 
Alton, Ind., and was educated in the old 
time subscription-schools of the county. 

In 1860 he was married to Emma Will- 
iams, a daughter of Garret Williams, of Per- 
ry county, but who came from Tennessee 
and settled in that county in. an early day. 
Mrs. Peckinpaugh died in. 1865, having 
borne one son, who preceded her to the 
"land of shadows" a few months. 

Mr. Peckinpaugh again married in 1874, 
to Miss Bettie Wilson, at Sweet Springs, 
Mo., a daughter of Thomas Worth Wilson, 
who was born in North Carolina in 1792. 
He was a man of prominence. His father, 
William Wilson, was made poor by the war 
of the Revolution, and Thomas was com- 
pelled to earn his own living, at the same 
time, through his own exertions, he received 
more than an ordinary education, having 
attended Washington College, in East Ten- 
nessee two years. He studied law and had 
a lucrative practice. 

Under the administration of President 
Van Buren he was appointed Indian Agent, 
and as such had charge of the removal of 
the Indians from Florida, Georgia, Alabama 
and Tennessee, to their reservation beyond 
the Mississippi. Mrs. Peckinpaugh still 
retains the certificate of his appointment, 
signed by President Van Buren. She also 



has the marriage certificate of her grand- 
father, William Wilson, which was issue 1 
in 1779. Her great grandfather was kid- 
naped in his native country (Scotland), 
and brought to the province of North Car- 
olina, about 1725-30. Her father, Thomas 
W. Wilson, removed to Texas about 1 850, 
and ^as admitted to practice law in that 
State, but some years prior to his death, 
which occurred in October, 1862, he gave 
his attention to farming. 

Mrs. Peckinpaugh's mother's maiden was 
Catherine Calhoun Caldwell, whose father, 
William Caldwell, was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier. A price was set upon his head by 
the British during the struggle, for his strong 
principles of liberty; he was of Scotch- 
Irish descent. Mr. and Mrs. Peckinpaugh 
have two children, Winonah E. and Calhoun 
C, aged eleven and eight respectively. 
When Mr. P. commenced business ne en- 
gaged in farming, and then with his brother 
in a general store at Alton, Ind. 

At the close of the civil war he went into 
the lumber business. He is one of the pro- 
prietors of the Peckinpaugh, Harrison & 
Co.'s Mills, situated on the Ohio, near the 
mouth of the Little Blue river. It is one 
of the most extensive manufactories of the 
kind in the State. 

The novelty department is one of the 
largest, and turns out all the work of su ch 
an establishment. Mantels are built and all 
the material for finishing the finest houses. 
Mr. Peckinpaugh is a member of the Ma- 
sonic fraternity, and has a handsome and 
comfortable home in the suburbs of Alton. 



ELIJAH E. RICHARDSON, a merchant 
of Leavenworth, was born in Jefferson 
county, Ind., March 7, 1859, and is a son 
of John Richardson, who was born in But- 
ler county, Pa., removed to Indiana in 1855, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



61 



and settled in Jefferson county, where he 
engaged extensively in farming. His moth- 
er, Margaret Martin, was also born in Butler 
county, Pa., when she was married to John 
Richardson, the father of Elijah E. John 
Richardson served in the regular army five 
years as a private soldier, and in the late 
civil war three years as captain in the 
Union army. 

Joseph Richardson, the grandfather of 
Elijah E., was a native of Butler county, 
Pa., and sattled in Jefferson county among 
the earliest settlers of that county. Elijah 
E., the subject of this sketch, was educated 
chiefly in the public schools of Jefferson 
county, where he was reared, attending 
Hartsville (Ind.) College one term, working 
on his father's farm meantime until 1883, 
when he removed to Crawford county, and 
traveled a circuit as a minister in the 
United Brethren Church of Christ, carry- 
ing on also a country store. In January, 
1889, he sold out his store and entered into 
partnership with William Everdon in a 
general merchandise business in Leaven- 
worth, Ind. This he is now engaged in, 
and carrying an excellent stock, valued at 
$6,000. He still preaches for the United 
Brethren Church, of which he is a consist- 
ent and exemplary member. He married 
Bessie E. Everdon, July 23, 1885, a native 
of Crawford county, Ind. They have two 
children, viz : Lilly Jaue and Annie. Mr. 
Richardson's father is still living, resides 
in Jennings comity, and is a hale old gen- 
tleman. 

COL. GEORGE W. RIDDLE was .born 
in Crawford county, Ind., in 1832, and is 
a son of Jesse Riddle, a native of Maryland, 
who settled in Indiana in 1825. The sub- 
ject of this sketch was reared on the farm, 
and educated in the common schools of the 
county. At the age of 22 he was married 



to Louisanna Wiseman, a daughter of 
David* Wiseman, a native of Kentucky, 
and whose people were among the early 
settlers of that State. They have eight 
living children, four boys and four girls. 
The subject served in the war, and rose to 
the rank of colonel. He was elected to the 
surveyor's office in 1854, and, with the ex- 
ception of the time he was in the war, he 
has held it ever since, and now in connec- 
tion with it he holds the office of real 
estate appraiser of land, and is one of the 
highly respected citizens of Crawford 
county. 

GEORGE W. ROBERTSON was born 
in Crawford county, Ind., June IS, 1842, 
and is a son of George W. and Sarah 
(Kintner) Robertson, the former a native of 
Kentucky, and a son of Daniel Robertson, 
of Virginia, who came to Kentucky in 1799 
and to Indiana in 1820; the latter a 
daughter of John Kintner and a native of 
Washington couuty, Pa., whose family 
came to Indiana at a very early day. 

George W., the subject of this sketch, 
was raised on a farm, and educated in the 
common schools. At the age of 18 he 
enlisted in Co. E, Thirty-eighth Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, in which he served 
for three years and seven months. At the 
end of three years he veteranized, and re- 
mained in the service until the close of the 
war, participating in all the battles in 
which his regiment engaged, the most im- 
portant of which were Perryville, Stone 
River, Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, Look- 
out Mountain (the battle above the clouds) , 
siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, and was with 
Sherman in his "march to the sea;" was 
present at the surrender of Gen. Joe John- 
ston. He saw the war in all its phases, 
was in many close places, but returned 
home without receiving the slightest wound. 



62 



CRAWFORD COUNTY 



Mr. Kobertson was married in 1865, 
November 7, to Miss Maria Martin, a 
daughter of Squire John Martin, who was 
born in Harrison county, his father being 
one of the earliest settlers of that county. 
Squire Martin was a justice of the peace 
for twenty-six years; was a consistent 
member of the Methodist Church, and a 
class-leader, and at the time of his death 
had been an official in that church for for- 
ty-one years. His wife, whose maiden 
name was Cassie Yates, survived him nine 
years. Her father, Eobert Yates, was an 
early settler in Crawford county, and a 
miller. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson have had 
three children, viz : Cora A., Emma and 
Jesse. Cora married Marcus Benham, 
and lives at Woodsdale, Kan. ; Emma is 
at home, and Jesse died at the age of 11 
months. Mr. Robertson is a member of 
the Presbyterian Church, and a prominent 
member of the G. A. R. He owns a com- 
fortable competence in the little town of 
Grantsburg, and at present is engaged in 
the hotel business. 



HENRY H. SELSER, M. D., was born 
in Meade county, Ky., December 7, 1851, 
and is a son of Harvey G. and Mary (Pop- 
ham) Selser, natives of Kentucky. Henry 
H., the subject of this sketch, was reared 
on his father's farm and received an aca- 
demical education. He read medicine with 
Dr. Clarence J. Prentice, a son of the re- 
nowned George D. Prentice, formerly of 
the old Louisville Journal, now a part of 
the Courier-Journal. He graduated from 
the University of Louisville in March, 
1875. In 1S77, he began practice at 
Leavenworth, where he has since remained, 
doing the largest practice of any physician 
of the place. From April, 1877, to Decem- 
ber, 1880, he was a partner of Dr. Harris. 



He was married June 4, 1888, to Amelia 
Benz, daughter of ex-Senator Benz, of 
Leavenworth. Dr. Selser is secretary of the 
County Board of Health, which position he 
has held since 1881, except the years 
1883-84. He is a member of the K. of H. 
and Deputy Grand Dictator of the Leaven- 
worth Lodge. He is a member of the 
County Medical Society, and the year(l877) 
it was organized he was chosen its first 
president. 

GEORGE W. SLOAN is a native of this 
(Crawford) county, and was born July 6, 
1841. He is a son of James G. and 
Martha (Sands) Sloan; the latter was born 
in Kentucky, November 7, 1807, and came 
to Crawford county, with his parents, when 
bat nine years of age. The elder Sloan 
(James G.) was born near Raleigh, N. C, 
February 20, 1800, and when but six years 
old moved with his parents to Kentucky, 
where they lived until 1819, when they re- 
moved to Indiana, and settled in Crawford 
county. James G. was a man of some 
prominence in local politics, and was 
elected to the Legislature from Crawford 
county in 1840, by the Whig party. He 
held the office of justice of the peace for a 
number of years, also that of County Com- 
missioner. George W. had the experience 
in his young days of country lads generally. 
He was reared on the . farm and educated 
in the common schools. When the civil 
war broke out in 1861, he enlisted in Co. 
F, Forty-ninth Indiana Volunteer In- 
fantry, and served to the close of the war. 
He was married November 5, 1871, to 
Miss Sarah A. Dooley, of this county. 
They have five children living, viz : Will- 
iam W., James 0., Lee Elwood (deceased), 
Sophia Ann, John G. and Archibald. He 
is a member of the Masonic order. He 
owns a good farm. In 1S67 he went into 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



63 



partnership in a store at English, with 
R. L. Sloan, which he continued until 
1S73, when he withdrew and returned to 
his farm. 

DR. LEWIS B. STEWART, of Marengo, 
Crawford county, State of Indiana, was 
born December 22, 1819, on the farm 
where the said town of Marengo was 
afterward laid out in 1838, and has 
lived here ever since. Received a limited 
education in the crude and common sub- 
scription schools of the country. In 1837 
married to Cynthia A. Weathers ; to whom 
was born nine children — six boys and three 
girls — James C, Chloe A., Virgil A., Mar- 
tha A., Richard D., Charles L., Millard E., 
Mary F., Oscar H. ; the latter is now a 
Homoeopathic physician. Dr. Stewart's 
occupation has been mixed : Farmer, 
mechanic, doctor, miller, merchant, justice, 
two terms ; Notary, two terms ; post- 
master, twice, merchant, twice ; has 
been a member of the Church of Christ 
for fifty years, and an elder in same 
for thirty years ; was a soldier in the 
late Rebellion, was on active duty seven 
and half months, acting as first-lieu- 
tenant ; belongs to the G. A. R. ; was for the 
Union then, now and forever ; Republican in 
politics. His wife died November, 1885. 
He was married to Lizzie Paterson in 1886, 
who is now his wife. His father, David 
Stewart, was born in North Carolina, July, 
1775 ; was married to Anna Sloan in 
1799. Moved and settled in Georgia for 
five years ; then moved and settled in 
Kentucky, 1804; and in 1813 moved and 
settled on the site where the town Marengo 
now is and when the State was a Territory 
and was almost a wilderness. He lived 
here until November, 1854, when he died 
in his eightieth year. Anna Stewart's, his 
wife, death preceded his in 184G; in 1847 



he married Elizabeth Springer, who sur- 
vived him. He was one of pioneer settlers 
of this country ; was a farmer, blacksmith 
and Christian minister, and held some 
prominent offices in Crawford county, to- 
wit : Associate and Probate Judge, and 
Representative to the State Legislature and 
presided over the first Whig convention 
ever held in the county in 1840. He had 
a father and two brothers in the Rev- 
olution, and to him and Anna Stewart were 
born nine children, seven boys and two 
daughters, as follows : John, James, Da- 
vid G., May, Eli, Samuel M., Martin T. 
Martha A. and Dr. Lewis B , two of whom 
were physicians, two Christian ministers. 
Three of the family still survive. — S. M., 
M. T. and L. B. 



ARTHUR E. STEWART, Treasurer of 
Crawford county, was born in Marengo, 
Dec. 16, 1859, and is a son of William M. 
and Catharine (Watts) Stewart, natives of 
Floyd and Crawford counties respectively. 
The former resides at Marengo, and is a 
farmer. Samuel M. Stewart, the grand- 
father of Arthur E., came from one of the 
Carolinas and settled here early. His father, 
David Stewart, was one of the earliest set- 
tlers in Crawford county, and laid out the 
town of Marengo. 

Arthur E., the subject of this sketch, 
was reared in the town of Marengo and 
educated at the Marengo College. He be- 
gan life as a dry-goods clerk, which he 
continued for five or six years. In the fall 
of 1886 ho was elected Treasurer of the 
county on the Republican ticket, by 135 
majority, when the county was actually 
300 Democratic, which demonstrates his 
general popularity. He was re-elected in 
18S8 by 155 majority. He is a Mason and 
an Odd Fellow, and an exemplary citizen. 



64 



CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



JAMES L. TEMPLE, of Temple, Ind., 
was born in Crawford county, June 10, 
1818, and is a son of Caleb and Lettie 
(Osborne) Temple, tbe latter a native of 
North Carolina. Caleb Temple was also 
a native of North Carolina, born in 1794, 
and was a farmer. 

He was an early settler in the county, 
and died in 1859. James L., the subject, 
was raised on the farm, and educated in 
the common schools of the county. He 
has followed farming, trading, and saw- 
milling through his life. He now owns 
between 1,500 and 1,600 acres of land 
in Crawford county, and 320 acres in 
Kansas. 

He was married in 1863 to Miss Annie 
S. V. Hughes, of Crawford county, a daugh- 
ter of Anamas and Mary (Craig) Hughes. 
They have two children living, Alphonsa 
and Clara Bell. He has a saw-mill at 
Temple, worth $2,000. He laid Temple 
Station, on the Air Line railroad, which 
bears his name. 



JOHN H. WEATHERS, a native of 
Orange county, Ind., was bom April 28, 
1860, and is a son of James and Sarah 
(Ellis) Weathers, natives, the former of 
Crawford and the latter of Floyd county. 



Richard Weathers, the great-grandfather 
of John H., was born in North Carolina, and 
settled very early in Indiana, among the 
first settlers of his county. He served in 
the Indian wars of the early period, and 
was one of that hardy race of pioneers 
who fought to clear the country of the sav- 
ages and make it a pleasant home for the 
whites. The family is of Scotch descent. 
James M. Weathers, the father of John H., 
enlisted in the One hundred and forty- 
fourth Indiana Vol. Infantry, and went 
to the field with his regiment, remaining 
in active service until the close of the war. 
He is a carpenter by trade. 

The subject was educated at Marengo 
Academy and at New Albany. He first 
engaged in teaching school, then studied 
law. When admitted to the bar he entered 
the office of Peckinpaugh & Zenor in 1883. 
When Judge Zenor was elected judge Mr. 
Weathers was admitted to the partnership 
with Major N. R. Peckinpaugh in 1885. 

He married Miss Nattie Holcroft, of 
Meade county, Ky., in November, 1888. 
He belongs to the Masonic and Odd Fel- 
lows fraternities ; is senior warden in the 
Masonic lodge and secretary in the Odd 
Fellows lodge. He takes an active part in 
politics, and is the chairman of the Repub- 
lican central committee of Crawford county. 




PLOYD COUNTY 



FEED AILEE was bom in Baden, Ger- 
many, in 1822, and is a son of Dennis and 
Barbara Ailer, natives of tbat country. 
Tbey came to America wben Fred was 
seven years old and located in Baltimore, 
when be (Fred's father) worked on a rail- 
road at fifty cents a day. Two years later 
tbey moved to another part of the State 
and he engaged in the lumber business, 
which he followed for three years, when he 
went to the Alleghany mountains and kept 
a boarding house for a year and a half. 
He then removed to Ohio, where he lived 
two years ; then came to Floyd county, Ind., 
and kept a boarding house on the Paoli 
Pike, near Mooresville ; then moved on a 
farm in Daviess county, near Washington ; 
from there he went to Celestine, Dubois 
county, where he kept a grocery and was 
squire. He died in 1845, while holding that 
position. 

Fred went to the Mexican war with 
Lieutenant Colonel C. C. Knafe of the 
First Regiment of Indiana. In 13-17 he 
returned from there to his home in New 
Albany, where he has been ever since en- 
gaged in contract work. 

He was married January 9, 18-17, to 
Nancy A. Brands, daughter of Tobias and 
Violet (MacFarland) Brands, of this county. 
They have one child, adopted, — Hattie, wife 
of Edward C. Burton, of Indianapolis. He 
is a Democrat and a member of the 
Catholic Church. 



STEPHEN J. ALEXANDER was born in 
York county, Pa., Feb. 10, 1812. His father, 



Robert Alexander, was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, belonging to an old Scotch family. 

His mother, Elizabeth McKinley, was 
also a native of York county, Pa. 

When the subject of this sketch was 
only ten years old, his parents removed to 
Belmont county, Ohio, where he was edu- 
cated in the common schools until old 
enough to enter upon the study of medi- 
cine, in which he graduated with honor in 
1839, and took up his residence in Cler- 
mont county, Ohio, where he practiced his 
profession with success until 1853, when 
he located at New Albany, where he has 
since resided, and where he stands in the 
front rank of his profession, with a large 
practice as evidence of his ability and 
success as a physician. 

During the war he ranked high as a 
hospital surgeon, in which capacity he 
served, during its continuance, in the hos- 
pitals at New Albany. 

He is now, and has been for a number 
of years, a member of the board of ex- 
amining surgeons of pensions, and whether 
as a private practitioner or in the responsi- 
. ble positions he has held under the Govern- 
ment, he has honored his profession by his 
skill and fidelity to duty. 

Dr. Alexander has been three times 
married, and ten children were born to 
him of these marriages. For forty years 
he has been a member of the Masonic Fra- 
ternity. In all the relations of his life he 
has been an honored citizen, and his pro- 
fessional career has won for him an honor- 
able position among his medical brethren. 



66 



FLOYD COUNTY 



JACOB ANTHONY (deceased) was born 
in Paris, Ky., March 25, 1799, died in New 
Albany January 5, 1878. He came to 
New Albany about the year 1820. Was 
married to Sarah Ann Marsh July 21, 
1822. He was a business man, being at 
one time a dry goods merchant, also in the 
grocery business,liverystable,etc. He served 
two terms as sheriff of the county, one 
term in the Legislature, and was collector 
of customs at this port under both admin- 
istrations of Lincoln and both terms of 
Grant, holding the office up to the time of 
his death, when the office was abolished. 
He left six children. 

He married Sarah A. Marsh, a daughter 
of Samuel Marsh. She was born in Mid- 
dletown, N. J., August 4, 1805. They 
moved from New York City to New Albany 
in September, 1814, where she has resided 
ever since — ■coming out from New York in 
wagons to Cincinnati, from Cincinnati to 
New Albany in flatboats. New Albany was 
at this time a very small village of log cabins. 
Mrs. Anthony is supposed to be the oldest 
living resident in New Albany at this time. 
Her father, Samuel C. Marsh, was born in 
Amboy, N. J., May 16, 1777, and died in 
New Albany December 21, 1858. He came 
to New Albany in September, 1814, and 
was engaged in boat building until disabled 
by age. Her mother was Martha Seabrook, 
bora in Middletown, N. J., April 27, 1 787 ; 
died in New Albany April 12, 1878. 



JAMES P. APPLEGATE was born in 
Jeffersonville, September 29, 1838. His 
grandfather, Aaron Applegate, came to 
Indiana in 1S06. His great-grandfather 
was a soldier in the Eevolutionary army 
and also in the "Whisky Eebellion," and for 
forty years afterward a Hardshell Baptist 
preacher. Mr. Applegate was educated in 



part in the common schools and spent 
three years in Indiana University. He 
read law and was admitted to the bar. He 
was two terms Becorder of Clark county, 
and for the past sixteen years has been one 
of the editors and proprietors of the New 
Albany Ledger. 

Mr. Applegate is the present member of 
the Indiana House of Bepresentatives for 
the district composed of Clark, Floyd and 
Jefferson counties, and is an active and use- 
ful member of that body. 



WILLIAM B. ATKINS was born in 
Lafayette township, Floyd county, Ind., 
May 23, 1844. His parents, John A. and 
Emma (Jackson) Atkins, were natives of 
the same township. His grandfather, Har- 
vey Atkins, was a native of Nelson coun- 
ty, Ky., and was one among the early set- 
tlers of Floyd county, coming into it while 
Indiana was a territory; and his grand- 
parents on his father's side, John and 
Nancy Chew, came into the county in 1S10, 
being the first settlers in Lafayette town- 
ship, and the family still reside in the 
county. William B. Atkins was reared on 
his father's farm, and educated in the 
schools of the county. In 1862, at the 
age of 18 years, he enlisted in Co. 
C, Eighty-first Indiana Infantry, Col. W. 
W. Caldwell, of Jeffersonville, command- 
ing, serving to the close of the war in 1865. 
During the term of his enlistment he was 
not absent from his regiment a single day, 
taking part in every skirmish and in every 
battle, bearing himself bravely, and escap- 
ing unhurt. On his return from the army, 
he began his former occupation of farming. 
In 1876 he was elected trustee of Lafayette 
township, serving four years. In 18S0, he 
was elected commissioner of Floyd county, 
in which office he served four years. In 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



67 



1884 he was elected county treasurer of 
Floyd county, and re-elected in 1886. He 
is a member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, taking an active interest in the 
organization. In 1866 he was united in 
marriage with Miss Hannah Mitchell, a 
native of Floyd county. Three children 
have blessed the marriage, all of whom are 
living. The public service of the county 
never had a more upright official. 



ISAAC M. BAKER was born in Floyd 
county, Ind., March 8, 1825, and is a son 
of Benjamin and Margeret (Miller) Baker; 
the former came from Virginia to Indiana 
in 1813, the latter also came from Vir- 
ginia about the same time both were of 
German origin. 

Isaac M. was brought up on the farm, and 
learning beside, the trade of a cooper, a 
business he worked at for thirty years. 
He was married in 1 849 to Miss Mary M. 
Wolf, a daughter of David and Mary (Utz) 
Wolf ; the former was a native of Kentucky, 
and came, with his parents, to Indiana 
about 1807, and farmed in Floyd county 
for many years ; the latter came originally 
from Virginia. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baker are the parents of 
twelve children, as follows : Louisanna, 
Hester Ann, Maggie, Ettie, SaUy, Clay, 
Clara E., David, Jennie, Alta, Rosetthia and 
Isaac, of whom, Louisanna, Maggie and 
Sally are dead. Those living are all mar- 
ried except the three youngest, and have 
homes and families of their own, and 
all live in Floyd county, except Hester, 
who married a Mr. Beard and lives in 
Illinois. 

Mr. Baker retired from the coopering 
business, bought a farm, and since has de- 
voted his time to tilling the soil. He owns 
fifty acres of well improved and productive 



land in Floyd county, which is well adapt- 
ed to small fruits. 

Mr. Baker is a member of the United 
Brethren Church, and, as common to that 
sect, is opposed to all secret orders. 



JOHN F. BAKER was born at New 
Albany, Ind., May 22, 1850. He is a son 
of John B. Baker and Jane D. (Crump) 
Baker. 

His father was born in Belgium, in 
1826; came to the United States in 1832, 
locating at Louisville, Ky., and removing 
to New Albany, Ind., in 1848, where he en- 
gaged in farming until 1853, when he 
began the trade of steamboat building. 
John F. Baker's mother is a daughter of 
Thomas Crump. She was born in Hart 
county, Ky., coming with her father and 
family to New Albany, where he followed 
the occupation of a carpenter. 

John F. Baker, after attending the public 
schools of New Albany, in 1868 appren- 
ticed himself to the cigar manufacturers, 
Jacob West and Wm. Laughman, then doing 
business in New Albany. Serving his ap- 
prenticeship, he went to Louisville, Ky., 
and worked in the factories of Jacob 
Schmidt, Lapold Bros, and John Homyre, 
whose were then the leading cigar factories 
in the city. Returning to New Albany, he 
assumed the superintendency of James H. 
Draper's factory and retail store. This 
was in March, 1872. He subsequently 
went to Owensboro, Ky., and again went to 
work as a journeyman in the factory of Mr. 
Adolph Helmke, in whose employment he 
soon was promoted to the position of con- 
fidential clerk and business manager in the 
manufacturing, wholesale and retail depart- 
ments of that establishment. This position 
he held until October, 1S76, when he again 
returned to New Albany, and engaged in 



68 



FLOYD COUNTY 



the manufacturing and wholesale and retail 
cigar trade. While he was engaged in this 
business he employed a greater number of 
workmen than any other cigar factory in 
the city. 

In August, 1884, he sold out to Caspar 
Feiock, but continued to superintend the 
business for that gentleman until March, 
18S5, when he embarked in the saloon 
business at No. 100 Pearl street, known as 
the Centennial saloon. Mr. Baker is con- 
nected with the Mammoth Insurance 
Agency, which does a general insurance in 
life, fire and accident risks. 

In 1873, September 10, Mr. Baker was 
married to Miss Mary E. Grouse, daughter 
of Clemence Grouse, of Owensboro, Ky., 
and was born in Germany. Two boys and 
one girl have been born to the marriage, 
Walter E. and Arthur L. being born in 
Owensfcoro, Ky., and Gertrude 0. in New 
Albany, Ind. 

He is an encampment member of the 
I. 0. O. F., a member of the endowment 
rank Knights of Pythias and a past junior 
sagamore of the Independent Order of Bed 
Men, president of the Brewer and Liquor 
Dealers' Association, also president of the 
Democratic Union Club of New Albany. 



VALENTINE BECHT, general agent 
for pianos and organs, New Albany, was 
born in Germany February 11, 1828. He 
came to the United States July 19, 1853, 
and to New Albany in 1800. Here he was 
first engaged in teaching Catholic schools 
for five years ; he then abandoned teaching 
Cathohc schools, and turned his attention 
to teaching music. 

In 1878 he was appointed to his present 
position, and is probably one of the most suc- 
cessful and well and favorably known piano 
and organ agents as there is in the State. 



Mr. Becht was educated at the University 
of Speier, the ancient Emperor city of Ger- 
many. On leaving the University he taught 
Catholic schools in his native country for 
twelve years, and eleven years he taught in 
this country. Mr. Becht is a member of 
the Catholic Church. He is a composer of 
music of considerable reputation. 



THOMAS BEDDOW, manufacturer of 
fine violins, violas, violoncellos, etc., and 
repairer of fine violins, corner of State and 
Main streets, New Albany, Ind., was bom 
in Staffordshire, England, August 20,1840, 
and came to America in 1867, locating at 
Youngstown, Ohio, whence, after a brief 
residence, he went to East Liverpool, Ohio, 
where for five years he was engaged in the 
manufacture of fire brick and terra cotta. 
Selling out this business, he removed to 
New Albany, Ind., in 1873, and engaged in 
the liquor business, in connection with his 
musical instrument factory. He keeps a 
full line of these fine instruments, selling 
them both in America and Europe. In 
1865 he was married, in England, to Miss 
Elizabeth Fereday, of Staffordshire. Four 
children survive to bless the marriage : 
Florence E., Minnie L., Alice E. and Will- 
iam F. He is a member of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights 
of Honor. 

FRANK BELVIY, a native of France, was 
born May 13, 184S, and with his mother 
came to the United States in 1851 locating 
at New Albany. He attended the schools 
of New Albany. In 1873 he engaged in 
the grocery business at Sycamore and Sixth 
streets, which he continued eight years in 
connection with the commission business. 

In 1880 he discontinued the grocery trade 
and engaged extensively in the produce, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



69 



grain and fruit commission business, which 
he continues to push with enterprise at Nos. 
14 and hi on Spring street, opposite the 
Federal building. 

He was married in 1872 to Miss Mary S. 
Broecker, daughter of Conrad Broecker, of 
New Albany. They have seven children : 
Lizzie, Annie, Frank, Joseph, Martin and 
Gustave. 

He is a member of the German Benevo- 
lent Society, St. Joseph Benevolent Society, 
the Catholic Knights of America and the 
Catholic Church. 

As a business man he has been eminently 
successful, and is very popular. He is the 
son of Martin Belviy and Elizabeth Fouge- 
rouse, both natives of France. His father 
died in 1852. His mother crossed the ocean 
five times, between France and America. 
His father and mother first came to Penn- 
sylvania about 1820, before there were any 
railroads or any turnpikes in the country, 
and had to travel in wagons. They re- 
mained for a number of years and then re- 
turned to France, with the intention of 
making that sunny land their home ; but 
on the death of the father, in 1852, the 
family returned to New Albany. 

His mother died here in 1874, at the age 
of 67. They were among the first settlers 
of New Albany, having come here from Penn- 
sylvania. There were but few houses and 
no public improvements, railroads or turn- 
pikes in the country at this time. 



DONALD D. BLANCHARD was born 
at Louisville, Ky., October 14, 1863, and 
has been a resident of New Albany since 
1866. 

He graduated from the High School and 
from the New Albany Commercial College. 

His father, John L. Blanchard, a native 
of Kentucky, was for many years engaged 



in the clothing business at Louisville, but 
at the date of his death in 1870, and for 
some time previous, held a high position at 
the New Albany Bail Mill. 

His mother was Sallie H. McDonald, 
daughter of the late Hon. John S. McDon- 
ald, of New Albany, a wealthy banker and 
pork packer, and widely known capitahst. 

After his graduation, Mr. Blanchard 
took a clerical position in the office, at Louis- 
ville, of the L. & N. B. B. Co., but afterward 
returned to New Albany and entered the 
office of the DePauw American Plate Glass 
Works. 

In 1880 he engaged in the coal business, 
which he still continues on Bank street, 
between Main and Water. He is a leading 
operator in the coal trade, having by energy 
and enterprise built up a large business, 
dealing in Pittsburg, anthracite, Connells- 
ville coke and Blossburg smithing coals. 



PEOF. W. W. BOBDEN was born at New 
Providence, Clark county, Ind., August 18, 
1823. His father was John Borden, who 
was born at Portsmouth, R. I., in Novem- 
ber, 1785, and came to Indiana in 1818, 
settling in Clark county, and laying off 
the town of New Providence, where he died 
November 7, 1824. He was the superinten- 
dent of the first cotton mill at Fall River, 
Mass. After coming to Indiana he followed 
the occupations of fanning and mercantile 
business. Prof. Borden's mother was Lydia 
Bellows, born in town of Preston, New Lon- 
don county, Conn. She was a woman of 
marked individuality, and she was men- 
tally fitted to become, as she did, one of the 
pioneer mothers of Indiana, — managing a 
farm and keeping an inn, thus educating 
her sons, William and John. Prof. Borden 
was reared at New Providence. After en- 
joying such advantages as the schools of 



70 



FLOYD COUNTY 



his native town afforded, he entered an 
academy at Salem, Ind., taught by John I. 
Morrison, a noted teacher of the times. He 
next entered the State University at Bloom - 
ington, where he remained some time. 
After leaving college he returned to his 
home, where for thirty years he engaged in 
farming, owning one among the finest 
farms in Southern Indiana, at New Provi- 
dence. 

Prof. Borden's superior acquirements in 
geology and the other sciences, which were 
self-taught while at work on the farm, gave 
him honorable rank among the scientific 
men of Indiana, and State Geologist Cox 
called him to his assistance in making the 
geological survey of the State in 1873. In 
this capacity Prof. Borden made an ex- 
haustive and invaluable survey of a num- 
ber of the counties of Southern Indiana, 
which are embodied in the report of State 
Geologist Cox and are standard authority 
in the geology of the State. 

In July, 1878, he went to Leadville, 
Col., and engaged in mining and mining 
engineering. He was among the first of 
those who went to Leadville, and was a 
leading spirit in the discovery and develop- 
ment of the rich mines of that famous lo- 
cality. He made an independent fortune 
by his operations and the sale of his mining 
interests within the period of one and one- 
half years. 

On his return home he determined to 
carry out a noble object he long had 
at heart, — the founding of an educational 
establishment for his native town, that 
should take rank among the leading col- 
leges of the West, a practical and thor- 
ough school for young men and young 
women, including a thorough business 
course. This laudable and noble ambition 
has been realized in Borden Institute. The 
corner-stone of this new institution of learn- 



ing was laid with imposing ceremonies, at 
New Providence, on September G, 1884, 
and the fine building was dedicated to the 
purposes for which it was erected, on July 
4, 1885. The dedicatory addresses were 
delivered by Prof. W. H. Venable, of the 
Chickering Institute, Cincinnati, and Gov. 
Will Cumback, of Greensburg, Ind., both 
speakers being noted men in scientific and 
literary circles. 

The main building, 5 5x6 5 feet, and three 
stories high, built of brick, is an elegant 
one in architectural design and finish. 
Attached to the Institute is a commodious 
dormitory for boarding students. 

The founder has supplied every depart- 
ment of Borden Institute with apparatus 
of the finest and most expensive character ; 
has furnished a Geological cabinet not 
excelled in the State ; has collected a li- 
brary containing the best standard works 
in all departments of literature, science, 
history and art; has erected a build- 
ing and beautified it, which is a model 
of excellence and convenience. All these 
facilities he has secured regardless of ex- 
pense, and he has provided the Institute 
with a faculty of the ablest and best edu- 
cators, including the best teachers in mu- 
sic, piano, organ, and voice culture. 

The curriculum of Borden Institute em- 
braces all the branches of higher education 
taught in the best colleges, including also 
the normal school for teachers and the 
business college for young men and wo- 
men. 

Prof. Borden has made the library of 
Borden Institute one among the best in 
West. 

This Institute is only one of Prof. Bor- 
den's many charities. He has given most 
liberally in aid of churches, other educa- 
tional institutions, moral movements and 
other enterprises having in view the bet- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



71 



tering of the mental, moral, physical and 
material conditions of his fellow-men. 

At New Providence, Prof. Borden owns a 
magnificent farm of nearly 2,000 acres, 
upon which he passes a large portion of 
his time when not traveling. In New Al- 
bany he owns and occupies one of most ele- 
gant homes in that city of beautiful resi- 
dences. He is also a large owner of real 
estate is Washington Territory and else- 
where in the rapidly developing portions of 
the Great West and on the Pacific Slope. 

He comes from English and Quaker an- 
cestors, and inherits the sterling integrity 
that is a characteristic of the Friends. He 
is, withal, a man of great public spirit, of 
generous liberality to the worthy poor and 
afflicted, and has loved to bless those 
among whom his home is located. 

Prof. Borden was married in November, 
1884, to Miss Emma Dunbar, of New Al- 
bany, Ind., a lady of rare accomplishments. 
They have no children. 

He is a member of the Baptist Church, 
and takes a great interest in the work of 
the church and Sunday-school. He is 
famed as a geologist and scientist, and his 
geological, mineralogical, and natural his- 
tory cabinets and his private library are 
among the largest and best in Indiana. 

He is a liberal contributor to the current 
literature and science of the times. 



CAPT. JOSHUA BBAGDON, a native 
of Maine, was born June 6, 1806. When 
quite a young man he left his native State 
and made his home at Mobile, Ala., where 
he became largely interested in the ship- 
ping interests, owning one or two vessels 
on the Atlantic and several steamboats on 
the Southern rivers and lakes. During 
the summer months he would come to 
New Albany ami superintend the building 



of steamboats, which he would take South 
in the fall. 

In 1849 Capt. Bragdon was united in 
marriage, at New Albany, to Miss Mary 
Louise Fitch, a daughter of Mason C. 
Fitch, Esq. 

He was a Union man, and during the 
Rebellion his property in the South was 
confiscated by the Confederate Govern- 
ment, involving him in serious losses. 
After the war closed he invested in the 
New Albany Bail Mill, now owned by the 
heirs of W. C. DePauw, deceased, continu- 
ing in the business until his death in Jan- 
uary, 1875. He left a wife and four chil- 
dren, as follows : Marshall Leighton, Clara 
Kimball, Mary Louise and Anna Maria. 

Capt. Bragdon was a conscientious and 
consistent member of the Presbyterian 
Church, a kind husband and a devoted 
father. He took great interest in the in- 
dustries and other material enterprises of 
New Albany, and died respected and hon- 
ored by all the people of the city. 

Mrs. Bragdon's father, Mason Coggs- 
well Fitch, was born at Williamstown, 
Mass., June 28, 1797. He graduated from 
Williams College, his father being the first 
president of that institution. While a 
young man he came to New Albany and 
read law with Judge Dewey, of Charles- 
town, Ind., and on being admitted to the 
bar opened an office in New Albany and 
practiced his profession. 

He was elected president of the New 
Albany Branch of the State Bank of Indi- 
ana, and twice a year had to carry all the 
money of the bank to Indianapolis to the 
mother bank. 

He superintended the erection of the 
Bank building, now occupied by the First 
National Bank of New Albany, and in that 
early day it ranked among the finest build- 
ings in Indiana. He was an elder in the 



72 



FLOYD COUNTY 



First Presbyterian Church, and died No- 
vember 29, 1848, leaving a wife and three 
children. His wife, Anna M. Paxton, lived 
until November 8, 1886. 



JAMES F. BROTHERS, dealer in agri- 
cultural implements, garden, field and 
flower seeds and fertilizers, was born 
March 28, 1838, in Orange county, Ind. 

His father, Wilson Brothers, was born 
in North Carolina in 1775, being a pio- 
neer settler and Methodist of that county. 
His mother, Sarah Lewis, was a native 
of Indiana, and died at the home in 
Orange county in 1840, at the age of CO 
years. Wilson Brothers lived to the age 
of *J0 years, dying at the residence of his 
son Henry, at Reynolds, White county, 
Ind., in 1805. He was a man distin- 
guished through life for his robust health, 
integrity of character and devoted religious 
life. 

James F. Brothers, after receiving a 
public school education, was united in 
marriage in 1858 to Miss Rosalie Beswick, 
daughter of Thomas and Sallie H. Bes- 
wick, in Harrison county, Ind. 

In 186 1 he enlistedinCo.G,T\venty-fourth 
Indiana Infantry, Col. Alvin P. Hovey, and 
was in the campaign through Western 
Missouri with his regiment, fighting at 
Fort Donnelson and Fort Henry. From 
Fort Henry he was sent to an army hospi- 
tal at Cincinnati, and was, with other Indi- 
ana soldiers who were broken in health, 
ordered home by Governor Morton. 

His health improving, he returned to the 
army in time to take part in the great bat- 
tle at Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing. Again 
he had to be sent to the hospital at Keo- 
kuk, la. Here his health failed so that he 
had to be transferred to St. Louis and then 
sent home, being honorably mustered out. 



He came to New Albany in 1866 and 
engaged in real estate, buying, building 
and selling houses. In 1874 he engaged 
in the notion business, continuing it until 
1880, when he engaged in his present busi- 
ness, which he has built up to the largest 
proportions. He is a member of the M. 
E. Church and also of the I. 0. 0. F. 



JAMES BROWN, born April 3, 1842, at 
Aurora, Ind., and is the son of James 
Brown and Bettie Cox, the former a native 
of Virginia and the latter of Pennsylvania, 
and both pioneers of Indiana. He enjoyed 
the advantages of a public-school education 
till he was eleven years old, and then went 
on the river, running on boats between Au- 
rora and New Orleans, the male relatives 
being nearly all river men. He was at New 
Orleans, and left that city on the day Fort 
Sumter surrendered, April 14, 1861, and 
on arriving at home, April 20, 1861, he 
enlisted in the 7th Indiana Infantry, in the 
three months' service, and went to West 
Virginia, where he fought at Cheat Moun- 
tain, the first battle of any importance of 
the war, in which the Rebel General Garnett 
was killed. Serving out his term of enlist- 
ment he returned home, and on Dec. 16, 
1861, enlisted for three years in the 52d 
Indiana Infantry. He served this term 
and was again honorably discharged and 
returned home, but again re-enlisted, and 
was finally discharged October 18, 1865, 
having been badly wounded in the battle at 
Nashville. He was in the battle at Fort 
Donnelson and many other severe engage- 
ments. He was married in 1868 to Miss 
Maggie Parsons, of New Albany, who died 
in 1870, leaving one child, Lillie. He 
married a second time to Mrs. Kate Lewis, 
who has a daughter — Lena Lewis, and to 
this marriage has been born Mary and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



73 



Maggie Brown. After returning from the 
war Mr. Brown was employed at the Glass 
Works, where he remained until May, 1887, 
when he was elected sexton of the city 
cemetery, which office he now most accept- 
ably fills. Few soldiers have a better 
record than private James Brown. He 
served efficiently for one year on the New 
Albany police force. 



PEOF. JAMES BROWN, marble dealer, 
corner State and Elm streets, New Albany, 
Ind. Born in Ireland, Feb. 24, 1830. 
Came to this country at a very early age. 
Learned the monumental and marble grave- 
stone business in Baltimore, Md. ; emi- 
grated to New Albany in 1852. 

Married Miss Ellen Wheelan, at Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, in 1855, by whom he had eight 
children, two of whom are dead and the 
following are still living: John C, William 
J., Mary, Annie E., James and Charles A., 
who, with himself, are members of the 
Catholic Church. 

Commenced the marble business in New 
Albany in 1856, and since then has done 
a very extensive business at home, and by 
agency throughout the South. He keeps a 
large number of finished Italian and Amer- 
ican marble grave-stones and monuments, 
and Scotch and American granite monu- 
ments, and for beauty of sculpture, orna- 
mental carving and lettering, cannot be 
surpassed. 

The Professor is also by nature a poet ; 
and had he turned his mind and attention 
in that direction he would have held a fair 
position among the ablest poets. 

He has written several beautiful poems ; 
a few of which are : "I Never Found a 
Friend," "Destruction of thePhcenix Mill," 
"Ben Fury," "The Vision," "Justice," 
"There is a God," "Skepticism," "The 



Humble Grave," "Happiness and Content- 
ment," "A Shoemaker's Epitaph," "The 
Farmer," "What I Love and Admire," 
"The Murdered Man, or the Drunkard's 
Fate," and "Wants of Woman," the latter 
a poem of great merit. 



DR. WILLIAM A. BURNEY, born in 
Wayne county, Ind., May 11, 1846, was 
reared in Indiana, and learned the trade of 
plasterer. 

In 1864, at Indianapolis, he enlisted in 
the Twenty-eighth U. S. C. Volunteers as a 
private, and continued in the service till 
June 24, T865, when he was honorably dis- 
charged. Returning home, he remained 
there but a short time, starting to Canada 
September 8, 1865, where he worked in a 
grocery store, remaining till 1867, and at- 
tending school in the winter. Returning 
home he worked at his trade as a plasterer. 
In 1868, he went to Kansas City, where he 
remained a short time, working at his 
trade. All this time he had been attend- 
ing school through the winter, and was a 
diligent student. 

He graduated from the Central School at 
Buffalo, N. Y., in 1868. He read medicine 
under Dr. S. S. Boyd, at Dublin, Wayne 
county, Ind., and graduated from the Long 
Island Hospital College of Medicine in 
1876. His rudimentary education was ac- 
quired in the public schools of Wayne 
county, Ind., and as opportunity afforded 
and his means justified, he attended medi- 
cal schools until he was financially able to 
enter upon his last course at Long Island 
Hospital College of Medicine. 

In the fall of 1877, Dr. Burney located 
at New Albany, Ind., and commenced the 
practice of medicine. 

By his universally acknowledged skill as 
a physician and surgeon Dr. Burney has 



74 



FLOYD COUNTY 



built tip a very large and profitable prac- 
tice, having as his patrons many of the 
best families of the city, and being often 
called to adjoining counties in difficult 
cases of surgery and severe cases of 
illness, particularly those of a chronic 
character. 

He is the owner of fine real estate, hav- 
ing in 1888 erected an elegant office and 
residence. He is unmarried. 

In 1886 he was elected a member of the 
city Board of Health. He became a mem- 
ber of the Floyd County Medical Society in 
1S80. In 1884 he was elected vice-presi- 
dent of the society and became president 
through the death of the regularly elected 
president. 

He has been engaged in the publication 
and editing of two newspapers published in 
the interest of the colored race, the New 
Albany Review, at New Albany, Ind., and 
the Ohio Falls Express, published at Louis- 
ville, Ky. He is also a contributor to sev- 
eral leading newspapers and medical 
journals. 

He was, in 1884, appointed assistant 
honorary commissioner for the State of 
Indiana by the Board of Management of 
the World's Industrial and Cotton Centen- 
nial Exposition at New Orleans, on the 
recommendation of Hon. B. K. Bruce, 
chief of the department of colored exhibits, 
and served most acceptably and with honor 
to his State. While Dr. Burney is a 
colored man, he enjoys in an eminent de-. 
gree the respect and confidence of the 
white people of New Albany and Floyd 
county, and numbers among his personal 
friends and patrons very many of the best 
white citizens and families. 

He is a practical and splendid example 
of what education and integrity of charac- 
ter will do for the colored race. 



MAJOB THOMAS CLARK was born in 
New Albany, Ind., December 29, 1837, 
and was reared and educated in that city, 
where he now resides. At the age of 17 
he was apprenticed at the L., N. A. & C. 
machine shops, to learn locomotive boiler 
building, serving three years. Before the 
war he was captain of the National 
Zouaves, one of the best drilled companies 
in Indiana, and whose parades and drills 
created great excitement. At the breaking 
out of the war he recruited a company and 
joined the Twenty-third Indiana Infantry, 
serving three years, and being in all the 
engagements of that famous regiment until 
detached and placed upon the staff of 
Gen. W. Q. Gresham. 

He was severely wounded in the battle 
at Champion Hills in the Vicksburg cam- 
paign. At the expiration of his term of 
enlistment he was honorably discharged, 
and returned home and recruited another 
company, and joined the One Hundred and 
forty-fourth Indiana Infantry, of which he 
was commissioned major. He served in 
this regiment until the close of the war. 

His wound, disabling him from following 
his trade, he learned the trade of sheet 
iron worker, but this also he had to aban- 
don on account of his wound. He then 
engaged in blacksmithing, which he still 
follows as contracting blacksmith of the 
DePauw American Glass Works. 

He was marrried in 1859, to Miss 
Phoebe Curran, daughter of James Curran, 
of New Albany. Six children have been 
born to them, viz : William, Hettie L., 
George L., Maiden W., Mary R. and 
Pearl P. 

He is a son of William and Elizabeth 
(Pister) Clark, both natives of Philadelphia, 
who came to New Albany in 1819, when 
there were but a few houses in the town. 




/jr^isCAsLsi-^-^-' xj&£t^A^it^ 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



11 



His father was a ship carpenter and a very 
prominent citizen, being mayor of the city 
from 1844 to 1847; he was also a member 
of the City Council for two years. He was 
extensively engaged in steamboat building, 
and operated a pump and block factory in 
connection with steamboat building. He 
was bom in 1797, and died in 1856. 

Maj. Clark's mother was born in 1799 and 
died in 1873, leaving three sons — Thomas, 
William and Joseph. William died July 
13, 18S6. Joseph resides at Birmingham, 
Ala. Maj. Clark, in 1886, was the Re- 
publican candidate for the Legislature 
against Hon. Charles L. Jewett, Democrat, 
and although the county was Democratic 
by 1150 majority, Maj. Clark was defeated 
by but 275 votes, receiving the largest vote 
ever given a Republican in the county for 
that office. 

Major Clark is the patentee of the process 
for converting cast iron into steel, and has 
succeeded in forming a company in Louis- 
ville with a capital of $1,000,000, known 
as the Falls City Malleable Iron and Steel 
Works, located at Logan street and Bear- 
grass Creek. He is a superintendent of 
of the works, and they are now making 
edge-tools of all kinds. 



BENJAMIN F. CLINE, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, was born January 18, 1S35. He 
learned the trade of a carpenter in Phila- 
delphia, and coming West settled at New Al- 
bany in 1S4S, following his trade for some 
time, and then engaging in the grocery 
and produce business. In 1871 he sold 
out the grocery store and engaged in his 
present business, that of a large dealer in 
all kinds of lumber. Mr. Cline, who pos- 
sesses excellent business sagacity, found 
that his acquaintance with the carpenter 
trade was a great help to him in his lumber 



business, as it enables him to know just 
what his customers need, and gives him a 
thoroughly practical knowledge as to the 
quality of lumber and timber, and what is 
necessary to make up the material for a 
building, no matter of what size. Mr. 
Cline has always been enterprising as a 
business man and citizen. He has served, 
most acceptably, several terms as a mem- 
ber of the City Council. He has been 
twice married. In I860 to Miss Sallie A. 
Payne, of New Albany, who died the same 
year of her marriage. In 1864 he was 
the second time married, his wife being 
Miss Delia Lynn, of New Albany. Two 
children are the result of this marriage — 
Edward M. and Mabel. Mr. Cline is a 
member of the I. 0. 0. F. and Knights of 
Pythias. He is a Presbyterian — a mem- 
ber of the Third Church. 



FREDERICK D. CONNOR was born in 
Perry county, Ind., February 17, 1841, 
and reared and educated in that county, 
attending the common schools and after- 
ward teaching school for two years. He 
gave up teaching when the war broke out, 
and enlisted, in 1862, in Co. K, 34-th 
Kentucky Volunteers, serving until the war 
ended, going in as a corporal and coming 
out in the same position. 

During the war he lost an eye from ty- 
phoid fever maltreatment. In 1865 he 
went into the Pension Office, at Indianap- 
olis, as a clerk under Col. John W. Ray, 
serving two years. He then went into the 
insurance business. 

He came to New Albany in 1870, and 
accepted the appointment of Deputy In- 
ternal Revenue Collector of the First Dis- 
trict, under Col. H. Woodbury, continuing 
in the same position under Gen. James C. 
Veatch after the consolidation of the First 



78 



FLOYD COUNTY 



and Second districts, and Maj. W. W. Car- 
ter, on consolidation of the First and Sev- 
enth districts, retiring on the election of 
President Cleveland. 

In 1884 he was appointed Traveling 
Auditor of the Lake Erie & St. Louis Rail- 
way, holding it until 1887, when he was 
appointed Assistant Secretary of the New 
Albany Forge and Rolling Mill, being a 
stockholder and director in the company. 

He was married in 1871 to Miss Hattie, 
daughter of Charles Sackett; two daugh- 
ters, Edna and Alma, being born to them. 

He is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity of the K. T. degree, and a Past Grand 
Master for Indiana of the A. 0. U. W. and 
representative to the Supreme Lodge. He 
is a member of Wesley M. E. Church. 

He is the son of Tarrence Connor and 
Nancy Tate, both natives of Indiana, his 
father being a prominent farmer of Perry 
county at his death, at the age of 50, in 
1859. His mother died at the age of 56, 
in 1880. He has three brothers and five 
sisters, as follows : John T., editor, Toledo, 
111. ; Tarrence, book-keeper, Baxter Springs, 
Kan. ; George H., lawyer, Idaho, with 
whom Addie, a sister, lives ; Eliza J., wife 
of B. E. Scribner, farmer and stock-raiser, 
Putnam county, Ind. ; Mary C, wife of 
Win. Wilson, Roachdale, Ind. ; Emma, 
wife of Ransom Walls, U. S. mail agent, 
Greencastle, Ind., and Andro M., wife of 
Elijah T. Hawn, Leavenworth, Ind. 



EDWARD CRUMBO is a native of Prus- 
sia, Germany, and was born in 1841. He 
is a son of Henry and Willemina (Hebner) 
Crumbo, who came to the United States 
and settled in New Albany, Ind., in 1846. 
The former was a stone-cutter, and opened 
a quarry on the Knobs in 1S54, before the 
Bedford and Salem quarries were opened. 



He is still living in Tippecanoe county. 
In 1870 Mr. Crumbo was succeeded in 
business by his son, and retired from active 
work. He served two years in the Common 
Council and was a hard working, honest 
active member. He fought the Gas Com- 
pany on a new charter at their price. He 
was married February 5, 1861, to Phoebe 
Elizabeth Gardner, of Pulaski county, Ind. 
Nine children is the result of this marriage, 
four boys and five girls. He is a member 
of I. 0. O. F., K. of P., A. 0. U. W., Red 
Men, and German Benevolent Society. 
He has gone through the chairs of the So- 
ciety of the Red Men, and has been trustee 
for eight years ; has also passed through 
the chairs of the A. 0. U. W. 

In national elections he votes the Dem- 
ocratic ticket, but for local elections he 
votes for the best man. He built the court 
house at Salem, and a good many other 
public buildings, too numerous to mention. 



PERRY N. CURL was born in Morrow 
county, Ohio, January 30, 1S55, and was 
reared in Ohio until 22 years of age, when 
he located at New Albany, Ind. He at- 
tended the public schools of his native 
county and then graduated from the Com- 
mercial College at Delaware, Ohio. He 
was reared upon a farm. 

He located in New Albany in 1877, and 
engaged in the grocery trade with J. R. 
Droyer for a partner. Starting with a capi- 
tal of $700, the firm continued until 1880, 
when he purchased Mr. Droyer's interest. 
Since then he has pushed his business with 
great good judgment and untiring enter- 
prise, adding dry goods, boots and shoes, 
and a line of agricultural implements, and 
is doing both a wholesale and retail busi- 
ness to the extent of $125,000 yearly. 

He has purchased his store-house, a 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



79 



large livery, sales and feed stable adjoining 
it, and owns a great deal of other real 
estate ; this is the result of his liberal and 
and energetic business methods. He is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias. 

In 1878 he was married to Miss Mary A. 
McKibben, of Morrow county, Ohio, and has 
two boys, Walter and Arthur. He is the 
son of William H. Curl and Eebecca John- 
son, both natives of Ohio. 

His mother died when he was nine years 
old. His father is still living, and resides 
at Cardington, Morrow county, Ohio. 



CHARLES A. DANZ, a native of New 
Albany, Ind., was born Dec. 9, 1859. His 
father, Andreas Danz, a native of Germany, 
came to America in 184:7, and located at 
New Albany, where he engaged in the man- 
ufacture of soap on an extensive scale, 
which business he continued till his death, 
which occurred in 1S77. His mother, 
Barbara Franck Danz, is the daughter of 
the late Capt. John P. Franck, one of the 
early settlers of the city, and one of its 
most enterprising and respected citizens, 
starting the first soap factory in the city, 
and commanding a company here during 
war of the Rebellion. He died at New 
Albany in 1864. Three children were born 
to Andreas Danz and Barbara Franck 
Danz, of whom Charles A. Danz is the only 
survivor. Charles A. Danz was educated 
in the public schools of New Albany, and 
graduated from the Commercial College of 
this city at the age of 17 years, taking 
charge of his father's large soap factory at 
his graduation, being a man of great busi- 
ness push and industry. In 1880 he 
engaged in the saloon business on Pearl 
street, which he continues at No. 113. He 
has been twice elected to the City Council 
from the Fourth Ward of the city, and is 



now serving his second term. He was 
married in 1880 to Miss Minnie Shea, of 
New Albany, daughter of John Shea, and 
has two children, Andreas and Anna. 



JOHN STEELE DAVIS (deceased), of 
New Albany, was born in Dayton, Ohio, 
November 14, 1814. His father, John 
Davis, was a merchant, and for many years 
magistrate of the county in which he re- 
sided. He married Elizabeth Calcier, of 
Princeton, N. J. He took an active part 
with General Wayne in the Indian war, after 
the defeat of General St. Clair. Judge 
Davis' grandfather,Capt. Joseph Davis, emi- 
grated from Wales, and settled near Prince- 
ton, N. J. He participated in the struggle 
for independence, and was with General 
Washington at the battles of Monmouth and 
Princeton ; at the latter place he lost a leg. 
John Steele Davis early gave his attention 
to study and entered Miami University at 
the age of 16; a short time afterward his 
father failed in business, which necessitated 
him to return home. He was now thrown 
upon his own resources for acquiring an 
education, and was obliged to assist in the 
support of his father and family. He after- 
ward read law with W. J. Thomas, of Troy, 
Ohio, and was admitted to the bar. He im- 
mediately came to Indiana, settled in New 
Albany in 1836, where shortly after his 
arrival he commenced the practice of law. 
As a counselor and jurist, few men can 
claim a higher record ; he was constantly 
engaged in his profession for a period of 
over forty years, and never prosecuted a 
man, nor allowed himself to be engaged to 
prosecute. He probably defended more men 
for high crimes and misdemeanors than any 
other man in the State, and was almost in- 
variably successful. He was the first city clerk 
of New Albany, having been elected in 1839, 



80 



FLOYD COUNTY 



and was chosen city attorney in 1846. In 
1841 he was elected to the State Legislature 
for the first time, and later served his 
county repeatedly in both branches, about 
twenty years in all. He was elected with- 
out opposition, in 1876, judge of the crim- 
inal and civil courts of Floyd and Clark 
counties, an office he did not seek, and only 
accepted at the earnest solicitation of friends. 
Judge Davis was an ardent Whig until that 
party ceased to exist. He was violently 
opposed to "Know Nothingism," and for 
a long time stood aloof from parties, but 
finally united with the Democracy. In 1843 
he was the Whig candidate for Congress 
against Thomas J. Henley, Democrat, and 
in a district overwhelmingly Democratic 
was defeated by only thirty-seven votes. 
He was presidential elector for President 
Taylor; and in 1852 was a member of the 
National Convention that nominated Gen- 
eral Scott for President. In 1860 Judge 
Davis was independent candidate for Con- 
gress against James A. Cravens, Democratic 
nominee, and was defeated by a very small 
majority. He was a warm supporter of 
the war for the Union, and had two sons in 
the war. The younger, John S. rose to the 
rank of captain, the other son, William P., 
to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the 
Twenty-third Indiana Volunteers. 

Judge Davis' death occurred some nine 
years ago. 

HON. JOHN S. DAY, born in Floyd 
county, May, 20, 1842, son of Cook Day 
and Margaret Hanger. His father is a 
native of England, coming to New Albany, 
with his parents, in 1828, at the age of 
seven years, his father being the first ex- 
tensive pork packer in this city, and he, 
when old enough, engaged in the business 
with his father, Christopher Day, and sub- 
sequently for twenty years freight agent of 



the New Albany & Salem (L., N. A. & C.) 
Railroad, being among the earliest of the 
employes of that road. 

Margaret (Hanger) Day is the daughter 
of Frederick Hanger, a soldier of the War 
of 1812, and who in 1814 entered 160 acres 
of land six miles west of New Albany. She 
is a native of Floyd county, although her 
father was a Pennsylvanian. 

John S. Day was reared and educated 
at New Albany. At the age of 15 he com- 
menced life for himself as a messenger boy 
on the L., N. A. & C. Railroad; he was a 
good messenger boy and by a series of pro- 
motions he was sent to the front — from one 
grade to another — until in 1870 he had 
reached the position of general superin- 
tendent of the "Monon." 

In 1880 he built the Monon branch from 
Delphi, to Chicago ; prior to this time in 
1865, he superintended the building of the 
J., M. & I. Railroad between New Albany 
and Jeffersonville, and was for three years 
agent of that line. After the completion 
of the "Monon" he retired from railroad 
service. 

In 1868 he was one of the originators 
and stockholders in the New Albany Steam 
Forge — now the New Albany Steam Forge 
Rolling-mill — which was first organized 
with $50,000 capital, and now has $175,- 
000 capital, Mr. Charles Sackett being 
president. 

Mr. Day has also managed extensive 
lumber interests. He has not however 
been engaged in very active business dur- 
ing the last five years. 
. He was twice elected to the City Council 
from the second ward, and distinguished 
his terms in that body by his vigorous work 
in favor of municipal economy and 
honesty. 

In 1884 he was elected to the State 
Senate from the counties of Floyd and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



81 



Washington, and was chairman of the com- 
mittee on Congressional and Senatorial Ap- 
portionment for the redistrictingof the State 
in 1884. 

In the session of 1886 he was chairman 
of the Committee on Railroads was on 
the Committee on Corporations, on Swamp 
Lands and Claims. He had served on all 
these committees in the session of 1884-5, 
and on the Committee on Banks and 
County and Township Business. 

He has been an Odd Fellow since in 
1862. 

In 1866 he was married to Miss Mary A. 
Hangary, a native of Pennsylvania. Two 
sons and a daughter have born of this 
union ; all are living. 



JOHN DINKLE was born in Floyd county, 
Ind., Dec. 14, 1867, and WILLIAM DIN- 
KLE was born March 7, 1862. They are sons 
of Henry W. and Malinda (Bue) Dinkle, 
natives of Germany, who came to America 
some half a century ago. They came 
when sailing vessels were the mode of 
travel between the Old World and the New, 
and were six weeks in making the voyage. 
When Mrs. Dinkle's parents settled in 
Floyd county, there had been few improve- 
ments made in the face of the country. Hence 
the changes that have taken place since 
then are wonderful in the extreme. Their 
children were Lizzie, Malinda, Henry, Will- 
iam, John and Maggie. They all live in 
Floyd county. John and William Dinkle 
were brought up on their father's farm, and 
were educated in the common schools of the 
county. The Dinkle boys, as they are 
familiarly called, are young and intelligent 
men, and enterprising farmers. They are 
considerably interested in the culture of 
fruit, and their farm near Edwardsville is 
a model of neatness, and contains 38 acres 



in a high state of cultivation. They also 
own 95 acres in Georgetown township. 
They are fast accummulating wealth, and 
are among the most prosperous men of 
their neighborhood. 



NORTON B. DUNCAN was born in 
Floyd county, Ind., on the 23d of Novem- 
ber, 1835, and is a son of James T. and 
Kitty (Bateman) Duncan, the former born 
in Jefferson county, Ky., and the latter in 
Indiana. The Duncan family can be 
traced back to the Duncans of Westmore- 
land county, Va. The father of James T. 
was Charles Duncan, a son of Henry Dun- 
can, bom in Virginia, and whose father, 
Coleman Duncan, was one of the pioneers 
of Kentucky. He was a zealous Whig 
when that title was applied to the patriots 
in contradistinction to the Tories, during 
our Revolutionary period. He was a sol- 
dier in the war of the Revolution, and came 
to Kentucky about 1793. His father, 
Henry Duncan, was the first of the family 
born in America (born 1710, and died in 
1790), and from him descended, directly or 
indirectly, the Braggs, Asburys, Browns, 
Lewises, Whites, Hutts, etc. His parents 
came from Scotland, where, as all who are 
familiar with Scottish history, know the 
family was not only one of prominence, 
but noble, with the blood of kings coursing 
in their veins. Duncans have even occu- 
pied the throne of Scotland. The subject 
of this sketch, Norton B. Duncan, was 
brought up on the farm, and received his 
education in the common schools of the 
county. He learned the tanning business, 
which he followed until 1866, when he 
sold out to his brother Charles. He then 
made a trip west as far as Iowa, where he 
remained three years ; then returned to In- 
diana. Later he removed to Illinois, but 



82 



FLOYD COUNTY 



still not satisfied he again came back to 
Indiana, and accepting the tradition that 
"a rolling stone gathers no moss," he set- 
tled down permanently where he now lives. 
In April, 185S, he was married to Miss 
Jennie Garrison, a daughter of Gamaliel 
and Priscilla (Daily) Garrison, the former 
a native of New Jersey, and who came to 
Indiana in a very early day. He was a 
surveyor and did much surveying in Floyd 
county, and lines and corners established 
by him are still considered indisputable. 
Priscilla Daily Garrison's family was of 
English descent. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan 
have never had any children, but have 
raised two children, viz : William B. Hink- 
ley, now agent of the American Express 
Company at New Albany, and James Dun- 
can, from infancy to manhood. Mr. Dun- 
can has 5£ acres of highly improved land, 
and upon which he cultivates small fruit. 
He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

GEORGE W. FISHER is a native of 
Floyd county, Ind., and was born October 
9, 1832. He is a son of Jacob and Jane 
(Thomas) Fisher, the former a native of 
Pennsylvania, but of German descent, and 
the latter a native of Virginia. Her fam- 
ily moved from there to Missouri when it 
was the frontier of civilization, and there 
most of them sickened and died. George 
W., the subject of this sketch, was raised 
on a farm, and educated in the common 
schools, his education being limited. In 
1858 he was married to Miss Sarah E. 
Moser, born in 183S in Floyd county, and 
a daughter of John Moser and Mary (Betty) 
Moser, the latter a native of Tennessee. 
She is still living, at the age of 75 years. 
She had four sons in the late Civil War, all 
of whom are dead, except one. Mr. and 



Mrs. Fisher have had five children, viz: 
Catherine, born in 1859, married to George 
Jones, and lives in Texas; Alice M., born 
in 1861, and married to John Govern; 
Georgiana, married to William Capper, and 
lives in Edwardsville ; Horatio, born Sep- 
tember 11, 1866, and died at the age of 
five years, and Hatt:e B., still at home 
with her parents. Mr. Fisher enlisted in 
August, 1S62, in Co. A, Eighty-first Indi- 
ana Volunteer Infantry, and participated 
in the following battles : Perryville, Edge- 
field, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Chicka- 
mauga, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Buzzard Roost and Atlanta. In 
1864 he was transferred to Louisville, Ky., 
and placed on duty there, taking men from 
one point to another. May 26, 1865, he 
was mustered out of the service, and hon- 
orably discharged. 



CAPT. ANDREW FITE was born in 
Clark county, Ind., July 7, 1832, but was 
reared in Harrison county. He graduated 
from the Floyd County Seminary, at Green- 
ville, where he was an assistant teacher 
and where he received a certificate to 
teach. At the inauguration of the present 
school system of Indiana he began to 
teach, and continued as a teacher four years. 
In 1855 he commenced the business of a 
carpenter and joiner and house-building 
contractor, continuing at it till 1*62, when 
he enlisted as private in Co. C, Sixty-sixth 
Indiana Infantry. He was in the battle at 
Richmond, Ky., with his regiment. He 
marched with Sherman to the sea, through 
Georgia, North and South Carolina, Vir- 
ginia, and to Washington City, taking part 
in all the battles of that memorable and 
brilliant campaign, and was honorably 
mustered out at Washington City in June, 
1865. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



83 



Since the war he has been doing noble 
work for the Grand Army of the Republic. 
He organized Sanderson Post, No. 191, at 
New Albany, and about twenty Posts in 
other parts of Indiana. He was senior 
vice-department commander in 1886, and 
is now department inspector. He was pro- 
moted during the war to orderly sergeant 
and declined a promotion to a captaincy 
tendered him. In 1854 he married Miss 
Nancy Speake, of Floyd county, Ind., who 
died in 1857, leaving one child, which sur- 
vived but a short time. In 1S60 he mar- 
ried Miss Levinia Sappenfield, of Harrison 
county, Ind. They have no children. He 
is the son of John Fite, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, and Eliza Starr, a native of 
Kentucky. They came to New Albany in 
1816, the year Indiana was made a State. 
The town then had but three business 
houses, one of these being the trunk of a 
large sycamore tree on the river bank, and 
there were not to exceed twenty residences. 



SHERMAN FRISBIEwas born at Mill- 
town, Crawford county, Ind., June 21, 
1839. He was reared at Milltown until he 
was seventeen years old, when he was sent 
to the Bliss Academy, at New Albany, Ind., 
where he completed his education. After 
his graduation he secured a position as 
second clerk on a steamboat on which his 
brother Junius L. was chief clerk. He con- 
tinued as clerk on various steamboats for 
several years, running between Louisville 
and New Orleans. In 1864 he and his 
brother Junius L. purchased the steamboat 
Idaho, which they run in the Louisville, 
New Albany and New Orleans trade, selling 
this boat in 1865. He then quit the river 
and took the management of the large busi- 
ness of his father, who had removed from 
Milltown to New Albany. His manage- 



ment was so enterprising and well directed 
that the value of the large estate was greatly 
enhanced. He was a careful but public 
spirited businessman, always distinguished 
for his genial social traits, and had hosts 
of warm personal friends. He was mar- 
ried in 1864, to Miss Mary L. Thorp, of 
New Orleans, La. There were born to 
this marriage three children : Frank, Sher- 
man and Mary E. He died June 27, 1886. 
He was a member of the City Council from 
the Second Ward for two years. He was 
the son of Libbeus Frisbie and Martha 
Matthews. His father was a prominent and 
enterprising merchant and farmer of Mill- 
town, Crawford county, Ind., being one of 
the earliest settlers there. He was a na- 
tive of Connecticut. He was married at 
New Albany, Ind., in 1822, his wife being 
a native of New Jersey, but a resident of 
New Albany at the time of their marriage. 
They were honored in life for their many 
excellent traits, and sincerely mourned at 
their death. Both died at New Albany. 



CAPT. RICHARD F. FULLER was born 
in Jeffersonville, Ind., February 3, 1832, 
being a son of Major Charles and Cathe- 
rine A. (Stewart) Fuller. 

His father was a native of Boston, Mass., 
and came to Indiana as Major of the 
Fourth Massachusetts Regiment in 1811, 
and fought under Maj.-Gen. William Hen- 
ry Harrison in the battle at Tippecanoe, 
November 7, 1811. His mother, Cathe- 
rine Anstey Stewart, was born in Halifax, 
Nova Scotia, and was reared in the family 
of Major-General Harrison, and was one 
of the wives of officers taken prisoners at 
the surrender of General Hull. Her death 
occurred in 1867. At the close of the War 
of 1812,Major Fuller and wife were ordered 
toPittsfield,Mass., and was commander there 



84 



FLOYD COUNTY 



until the post was abandoned, whence they 
shortly after returned to Indiana, locating 
at Jeffersonville, where he died in 1839, 
leaving a wife and seven children, of whom 
the subject of this sketch, Capt. Richard 
F. Fuller, was the youngest. 

His mother died in Jeffersonville in 1867. 
Her companions in captivity at Hull's sur- 
render were the wife of Captain Bacon and 
the wife of Lieut. -Col. Gooding. 

Captain Fuller received his education in 
the public schools of Clark county, and at 
the age of 19 years commenced his career 
as a steamboat clerk on the Ohio and Missis- 
ippi rivers, which he continued for twenty- 
five years. During that period he was clerk 
on the steamers Alex Scott, T. C. Twitch- 
ell, E. H. Fairchild, in the Louisville and 
New Orleans trade, and captain of the 
steamers Luna, Ida Handy, Luminary 
and several others, thus making him one 
of the oldest of steamboatmen of the Falls 
Cities. Leaving the river he followed clerk- 
ing in New Albany and at Louisville, and 
book-keeping in both cities, having been 
Deputy Clerk of the city of New Albany, 
and book-keeper at the Merchants' National 
Bank of New Albany, New Albany Cotton 
Batting Factory, and filled other equally 
responsible positions. 

Captain Fuller was married in March, 
1862, to Miss Dealie E. Bulkeley, of Louis- 
ville, Ky., and five children have blessed 
the union. Richard L., foreman in the 
carding department of the Batting Works ; 
Clarence B., clerk in the Bank of Commerce, 
Louisville ; Vivian, assistant of his brother 
Richard L. ; Jamie A. and Hannah B. 



J. F. GEBHART was born in Maytown, 
Penn., December 6, 1831, and worked dur- 
ing boyhood in his father's weave shop. 
His pa rents, John R. and Susan Young 



Gebhart, were natives of Pennsylvania. He 
had few opportunities for studying books, 
but improved what he had to the best ad- 
vantage. In early manhood he embarked 
in business, but, like many others, the in- 
vestment proved unfortunate, and he was 
left without money but plenty of debts. He 
also, fortunately for himself, his creditors, 
and a good many other people, had plenty 
of grit left. 

Like many in similar situations who are 
resolved to retrieve misfortunes and achieve 
success, he turned his eyes to the great 
and growing West. He had strong arms, 
skilled hands, a trust in his God and the 
courage to dare to do. These were his capi- 
tal, and with these he started out in life. 
He now had two ambitions in life. In his 
first venture he had only future success to 
stimulate effort, now he had the incentive 
to win his way in life, and pay the debts 
left behind him in his old home. The task 
was not easy. 

After looking about for a location he se- 
lected New Albany on account of its favor- 
able location. There was no other induce- 
ment, for he was, indeed, a stranger in a 
strange land. The prospect was gloomy, 
but there was firm faith in the future. 
Work came as it always will to him who 
seeks it. There were drawbacks and dis- 
appointments. Work was sometimes very 
slack and the employment not at all times 
agreeable, but he was on the road he had 
started to find, and he determined to travel 
it. On the smooth places he would make 
all the speed possible, and the rough ones 
he would jump over, stumble over, any 
way to get over, but he kept going, and he 
is still going, and the road keeps getting 
smoother. But long ago he reached the 
goal of one ambition. He paid off every 
dollar of debt and interest he left behind 
in Pennsylvania. Mr. Gebhart has also 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



85 



accumulated a handsome property in New 
Albany, lives in and owns one of the many 
handsome residences in this city of beauti- 
ful homes. 

Here, perhaps, this notice might end, 
but the steps along which Mr. Gebhart 
strode to success, are matters of special 
interest to his friends, and of general in- 
terest to the citizens of New Albany. The 
example of his course is also valuable to 
the young. 

Mr. Gebhart's first effort in New Albany 
was to start a woolen mill. This be ac- 
complished in a small way, during the 
year 1861, with Mr. John T. Creed as a 
partner. The latter soon, however, with- 
drew to embark in other business. Mr. 
Gebhart continued, determined to stick to 
the tree he had planted, and succeeded in 
maintaining and enlarging the mill so that 
to-day it is the largest woolen and cotton 
mill combined west of the Allegheny moun- 
tains, and which New Albany can be, and 
is, justly proud of. 

Mr. Gebhart did not stop with the wool- 
en and cotton mills, but he turned his 
attention to other enterprises that now 
beautify and adorn the city, as well as add 
to its material prosperity. Next to the 
woolen and cotton mills stand the New Al- 
bany water works as a testimony to his 
public spirit. He was among the first to 
agitate the building of the works, and his 
pen contributed numerous articles on the 
subject to the columns of the Ledger, ad- 
vocating their building. It required a great 
deal of tact, energy and ability to put the 
works through, but they were built, and 
have no superior in the United States, and 
to J. F. Gebhart belongs the honor. 

His next idea was a hosiery mill, and 
this was materialized by the building on 
Ekin avenue, by W. A. Hedden & Co., of the 
largest and finest mill of the kind in the West. 



Besides other and minor enterprises Mr. 
Gebhart was one of the first citizens of 
New Albany who joined as a stockholder 
and director in the building of that grand 
structure, the Kentucky and Indiana bridge, 
and lastly, so far, but not least, in the 
building of the Eastern Railway, of which 
he is a director and vice president. 

And all this by a man who came among 
us less than a generation ago, poor and 
unknown, and who by his own genius for 
improvement, his stability of purpose, 
has risen to the honorable position in the 
business world he now occupies. 



GEORGE H. GODFREY was born in 
Genesee county, town of Stafford, N. Y., 
September 16, 1839, and is a son of Alonzo 
and Harriet (Waternam) Godfrey, natives 
of N. Y. George was but 1 2 years of age when 
his parents removed to Michigan. He re- 
ceived a good practical education, and to his 
other qualifications was added telegraphy. 

At the age of 21 he came to Indiana as 
a telegraph operator, and in 1861, on the 
8th of July, he came to New Albany as 
manager of the Western Union telegraph 
office. In 1S62 he joined the telegraph 
corps, and was three months with Gen. 
Negley's corps in Tennessee, when he re- 
turned to New Albany and has remained 
manager of the Western Union telegraph 
office of that city. He has always been in 
telegraph business. He is a prominent 
member of the Knights of Honor and 
Knights and Ladies of Honor, and has held 
all the offices in the lodge. In 1886 he 
was elected grand protector of the Knights 
and Ladies of Honor of the State, and re- 
elected in 1887, and in 1S88 he was 
elected supreme representative to the Su- 
preme Lodge for four years, which meets 
every two years. 



86 



FLOYD COUNTY 



He is also a member of the Odd Fellows. 
He was married December 24-, 1862, to 
Miss Emma L.Johnson, daughter of James 
Johnson, Esq., deceased, of New Albany, 
Ind. They have three children : Harry, 
Mrs. Jennie Mathers and Mrs. Carrie Stein- 
hauer. 

JOSIAH GWIN was born in Lanesville, 
Harrison county, Ind., January 28, 1834. 
When but eight years he came to New 
Albany with his father's family. His edu- 
cation was limited to the common schools, 
and in 1850, when but 17 years of age, he 
left school and took work with a party of 
surveyors on the railroad from Lafayette 
to Michigan City, now a part of the 
"Monon Road." His father died in 1852, 
was sheriff at the time, and Josiah went to 
clerk for Martin H. Ruter. Phineas M. 
Kent was appointed postmaster by Presi- 
dent Pierce, and Mr. Gwin was selected as 
his clerk. 

In the fall of 1S56 he began his career 
as a newspaper man, by accepting the city 
editorship of the New Albany Ledger, which 
he continued until 1860, when he was 
elected County Recorder. This office he 
held by successive elections until 1869. In 
July, 1871, he founded the Daily Standard, 
a paper soon after consolidated with the 
Ledger, and Mr. Gwin continued as editor 
until 1881, when he sold his interest and 
retired; but soon entered the journalistic 
field again, and founded the Public Press, 
which paper he still conducts. He will 
also establish a daily newspaper at New 
Albany within a few weeks. 



JAMES MONROE GWIN was born in 
New Albany, Ind., October 22, 1837. He 
was educated in the public and high schools 
of the city. During the administration of 



President Buchanan, from 1S57 till 1861, 
he was assistant postmaster of New Albany 
under his cousin, F. M. Gwin. During the 
first year of the war he was in employ of the 
late Hon. W. C. DePauw, supplying feed for 
the Government. In 1862 he engaged in 
the livery, sale and feed business with his 
father, and in 1867 they added the under- 
taking business, under the firm name of 
Merker & Gwin, and he is still engaged in 
this consolidated business, with one of the 
the most extensive plants in the city. He 
is a man of business energy and his popu- 
larity has won him a very profitable busi- 
ness. He was married in 1860 to Miss 
Julia Merrymau, of Floyd county, Ind., 
who died in 1872, leaving no children. He 
was again married in 1S75 to Miss Carrie 
C. Warren, of New York. Two children, 
Newland and Edith, have been born of this 
marriage. He is a son of Berry Gwin, 
one of the old and well known citizens of 
New Albany. 

LOUIS HAMMERSMITH was born in 
Germany November 2S, 1852, and came to 
America with his parents in 1852, and locat- 
ed at New Albany, Ind., where he enjoyed 
the advantages of the public schools until he 
was fifteen years old. He then commenced 
driving a wagon for his father, Charles 
Hammersmith, which he continued to do 
for six years, attending to his father's busi- 
ness for two years after his death, which 
occurred Sept. 8, 1875, his father running 
five wagons at the time of his death. In 
1880 he purchased the wagons and sixteen 
horses of the heirs in the estate, and has 
followed teaming, chiefly between New Al- 
bany and Louisville, ever since, now em- 
ploying forty head of horses in the busi- 
ness. He is a splendid illustration of a 
thorough-going self-made, pushing business 
man. He is a member of the Masonic 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



87 



fraternity and the I. 0. 0. F. He was 
married April 29, 1879, to Miss Minnie 
Shoaf, of New Albany. They have three 
children : Louis, Eva and Charles. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hammersmith are members of 
the German Evangelical Church. 



ELDER MARTIN V. HANGER was 
born in Floyd county, Ind., December 28, 
1825, and is a son of Frederick and Mar- 
garet (Cook) Hanger; the former was a 
native of Augusta county, Va., and died 
here in 1872, at the age of 75 years; the 
latter was born in Hesse-Darmstadt. Her 
parents came to this country soon after the 
Revolutionary war, and, like many others, 
in order to get to Free America, sold them- 
selves for a certain length of time, to pay 
their passage to this country. They saved 
their money until their servitude was at an 
end, that they might have something to 
begin the world with. Frederick Hanger 
used to boast that he had six uncles who 
came to this country from Switzerland in 
colonial times, all of whom served in the 
Revolutionary war. Martin V., the sub- 
ject of this sketch, is essentially a self- 
made man. His education has been at- 
tained through his own exertions, and by 
dint of hard work. His boyhood was spent 
on the farm and working in a cooper shop. 
He attended the schools of the county. 
These were quite inferior to the common 
schools of to-day. They were paid for by 
general subscription, according to the 
number of pupils each patron sent to 
school. Mr. Hanger was educated in these 
schools. At the age of 15 an objection 
was raised to his attending school, because 
he gave the teacher so much trouble, and 
he was taken away ; but he did not discon- 
tinue his studies — he kept tbem up at 
home, and by the time he was 20, he was 



qualified to teach. His spare money was 
spent for books, and he became a good 
English scholar. He taught about four years 
in Floyd county, and in 1857 he moved to 
Harrison county, and in 1863 was elected 
school trustee of Posey township, and re- 
elected, serving two terms, after which he 
was chosen county commissioner for one 
term. He then removed back to Floyd 
county, where he has since resided. He 
owns 329 acres of fine land, which he has 
in a fine state of cultivation and well 
stocked. His land is situated in both 
Floyd and Harrison counties ; he resides on 
that lying in Floyd county, and in sight of 
his birthplace. Recently he has erected a 
fine residence, which he designed himself, 
and which has some peculiarities. Each 
room is finished in a different style — one 
in white walnut, one in black walnut, one 
in wild cherry ; while the hall has a 
specimen of every kind of wood common in 
this section. The design of the house was 
obtained by Mr. Hanger from a picture 
frame he has, which contains 103 kinds of 
wood, much of which is historical. For 
instance, one piece was water oak, from 
the old brig Constitution, another from the 
charter oak, etc. 

Mr. Hanger was married in October, 
1847, to Miss Sarah Blunk. They have 
never had any children ; but have raised 
four boys and one girl, and educated them. 
Mr. Hanger is a prominent Mason, and a 
zealous Christian and minister of the 
Gospel. For thirty years he has been a 
minister of the Christian Church. 



JAMES G. HARRISON was born at 
Xcnia, Ohio, September '_".», ls34,and came 
with bis parents to New Albany, Ind., in 
1839. His father, George H. Harrison, was 
a native of Harrisonburg, Va., born in 



88 



FLOYD COUNTY 



February, 1809, died at New Albany in 
1854. He graduated from Augusta Col- 
lege, Ky., was a teacher of rare ability, 
and carne to New Albany to take charge of 
a Methodist Seminary that had been lo- 
cated here by the Indiana Conference of 
the Methodist Church. The greater part 
of his life was devoted to teaching, though 
he served as Postmaster under the admin- 
istrations of Taylor and Fillmore — 1849- 
1853. His wife, Sarah P. Grover, was a na- 
tive of Greene county, Ohio, born in 1810, 
and died at New Albany in 1873, aged 63 
years. 

James G. Harrison, son of this worthy 
couple, was educated in the schools of New 
Albany, graduating from its high school. 
During his father's four years' term as Post- 
master he was his deputy. At the conclu- 
sion of his postoffice service, he entered the 
office of Dr. William Cooper, for the pur- 
pose of studying medicine, but, his father 
dying a year later, he had to give up his 
studies. He then was elected Eecorder of 
Floyd county as the Republican nominee, 
serving a term of four years. In 1802 he 
was appointed Deputy Postmaster by Hon. 
John M. Wilson, where he served one year, 
andnvas then appointed Assistant Revenue 
Assessor for the New Albany Division by 
Assessor Thomas C. Slaughter, serving un- 
til that office was abolished. He was then 
appointed Deputy United States Clerk 
and United States Commissioner for the 
Federal Court of New Albany, still hold- 
ing both these offices. He is also a trustee 
of the city schools and secretary of the 
board, a trustee of the DePauw College 
for Young Women, a member and officer of 
the I. 0. 0. F., a member and officer of the 
Wesley M. E. Church, and has for fifteen 
years been engaged in the insurance busi- 
ness. 

On the 24th of May, 1856, he was mar- 



ried to Miss Hester A. Hart, daughter of 
late ex-mayor William Hart, of New Albany. 
He has three children — George W., James 
B. and Walter G. 



DAVID HEDDEN was born September 
5, 1802, in Newark, N. J., and is a son of 
Stephen and Sallie (Peck) Hedden, natives 
of that State. The former came to Indi- 
ana and settled in Floyd county in 1 829, 
near Greenville, where he bought 300 acres 
of land, on which he farmed. Being a 
blacksmith, he moved to New Albany after 
some years spent in farming. The latter, 
Sallie Peck Hedden, was a daughter of 
Judge Peck, of New Jersey, a man of con- 
siderable prominence. David Hedden, the 
subject of this sketch, was brought up in 
New Jersey, and educated in the common 
schools. He came to Floyd county in 
1820, a year before his father moved out, 
being then but eighteen years of age, and 
commenced clerking in a store, which he 
continued for a year, when he entered into 
partnership with Elias Ayers in the same 
business. 

The partnership continued until 1842, 
when Ayers died, and he continued alone 
in the business three years longer, when 
his health having failed he retired from 
active business. He bought a mill, how- 
ever, but in a short time it was burned. 
He bought another and took charge of it, 
and continued to operate it until 1856. 
He then built a $10,000 residence and re- 
tired from active business altogether. 

He was married in 1840 to Elizabeth 
Wood, a daughter of Rev. Joseph Wood, 
of Brown county, N. Y., and Betsy (White) 
Wood, of Stanford, Conn. They have seven 
children, viz : Theodosia, William A., pro- 
prietor of Hosier Mills ; Francis, Sarah S. 
(Baird), Walter David, in brick business; 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



89 



Anna W. (Green), Grace and Ella Hardy. 
Mr. Hedden is a member of the Presbyter. 
ian Church and a Republican. 



CHARLES HEGEWALD, born in Sax- 
ony, September 18, 1832, came to Amer- 
ica in 1853, and in 1854 made his home in 
New Albany. He served a seven years' 
apprenticeship in his native countiy as a 
machinist, and for some time worked as a 
journeyman in that country to secure the 
means to come to the United States. 

On his arrival in New Albany he went to 
work in the machine shops of the Louis- 
ville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad, 
where he remained until a strike was in- 
augurated, when he took a place in the 
Union Foundry, remaining there until it 
failed in 1856 ; when for two years he 
held a place in the American Foundry, 
going thence to the machine shops of Lent, 
South & Shipman, where he remained until 
the war broke out. He then returned to 
the American Foundry as foreman. 

In 1873 he entered into a copartnership 
with the late W. C. DePauw, in the foundry 
and machine business, at his present loca- 
tion, the firm continuing until 1878, when 
Mr. N. T. DePauw purchased his father's 
interest and continues a member of the 
firm, which is the most enterprising and 
has the largest business of any establish- 
ment of its kind in New Albany. 

The building covers a half square of 
ground on Water street, between Pearl and 
Bank, and the firm, of which Mr. Hegewald 
is the energetic superintendent and business 
manager, employs from 75 to 200 men, 
according to the demands of trade upon 
them, and does a business of about 
$200,000 per year, manufacturing marine 
and stationary engines, all kinds of steam- 
boat and mill machinery and supplies, 



brass and iron castings and other ma- 
cliinery. 

Mr. Hegewald is one of the self-made, 
successful and public-spirited men of New 
Albany. He takes a deep interest in all 
enterprises that promise to advance the 
material interests of New Albany, and has 
done much to help the prosperity of that 
city. 

He served one term as a member of the 
City Council, declining a re-election. He 
is in all regards a valuable and excellent 
citizen. 

He was married in New Albany, in 1855, 
to Miss Catherine Meyer, and they have 
four children : Emma, John F. C. , Ar- 
thur and Edwin; John F. C. being a grad- 
uate of the West Point Military Academy 
and a resident of Louisville. Arthur and 
Edwin are employed in the foundry and 
machine shops with their father. 



CHRISTOPHER HEIMBERGER, born 
in Germany, January 17, 1833, emigrated 
to the United States in 1852, settling in 
Ohio, where he learned the business of 
photography, and having an artistic apti- 
tude for the business soon rose to high dis- 
tinction as an artist and now holds rank 
amongst the best photographers in the 
country. 

He took up his residence in New Albany 
in 1859, where he speedily built up a large 
business, his gallery being one of the most 
attractive in the State both in construction 
and the artistic gems it contains. Mr. Heini- 
berger was the first of American photo- 
graphers to discover and apply the superior 
Plate Glass Light, which is applied in his 
gallery. As the result of the superiority of 
his appliances and pictures he is now fill- 
ing orders for citizens of, not only Indi- 
ana, but of Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois and 



90 



FLOYD COUNTY 



Missouri. Few American photographers 
may hope to reach such perfection in ar- 
tistic results and liberal patronage. 

In 1S59, at Cincinnati, 0., Mr. Heimber- 
ger was married to Miss Margaret Berst, 
daughter of Jacob Berst, native of Ger- 
many, who came to America in 1S47 and 
located in Harrison county, where he died 
in 1885, at the age of 72. His daughter Mar- 
garet was reared by her uncle, John Nockle, 
a prominent butcher and grocer of Cincin- 
nati, where her marriage took place. The 
children born of the happy union are: 
Adam, Sadie and Bena, all married. 

Adam Heimberger, the son, is a partner 
in photography with his father, and, like 
him, a born artist. 

Christopher Heiruberger is a member of 
the Masonic fraternity and of the Ancient 
Order of Workmen, and an active member 
of the German Evangelical church, his en- 
tire family being members of this church. 
He is a self-made man, and no man has 
done more by his art to illustrate and per- 
petuate the magnificient scenery of the 
Central Ohio Valley. 



GEORGE HELFRICH, Sr., a native 
of Europe, was born July 20, 1831, and 
came to the United States in July, 1848, 
locating at New Albany, Ind. He learned 
the trade of a house carpenter and builder 
in the old country, and engaged at his 
trade on locating at New Albany, carrying 
it on until 1853. He then accepted a po- 
sition in the L., N. A. & C. Railroad shops, 
working there until 1868, when he took 
charge, as superintendent, of the car depart- 
ment, remaining in this position until 
1880. In 1881 he engaged in the planing- 
mill and lumber business at the corner of 
East Fifth and Oak streets, New Albany, 
on a lot covering 180 by 130 feet. Besides 



his large planing-mill business, he is a 
dealer in all kinds of building and con- 
struction lumber, shingles, lath, doors, sash 
and blinds. By .his liberal enterprise he 
has built up a very large trade, which he 
has fairly won by his integrity. He was 
married May 2, 1853, to Miss Margaret 
Ellmancer, of Harrison county, Ind., and 
has six living children — George, Charles, 
Edward, William, August and Emma. He 
is a member of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and has passed all the chairs 
(the offices) of that order. He is also a 
member of the Knights of Honor. 



EDWARD G. HENRY, a native of 
Switzerland county, Ind., was born April 
16, 1850. His father, David Henry, was 
a native of Ireland, and a lawyer by pro- 
fession and a successful farmer, and emi- 
grated to Indiana in the pioneer period of 
the State. His mother, Caroline Stapp, 
was a native of Kentucky. 

Reared in Switzerland county, he at- 
tended the public schools of the county 
during his boyhood, fitting himself for Han- 
over College, from which he graduated in 
1870. 

He then entered the law school of 
Indiana University, from which Institution 
he graduated in 1872. The same year he 
took up his residence at New Albany, and 
entered upon the practice of law, and has, 
by his abilities as a counselor and advo- 
cate, built up a very lucrative practice, 
standing high at the bar as a practicing at- 
torney. 

In 1888 Mr. Henry was nominated 
unanimously by the Democratic party of 
Floyd county for Representative in the 
State Legislature, to which office he was 
elected by a large majority. 

He is a man of scholarly culture, an able 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



91 



public speaker, and possessed of the ele- 
ments for a successful and useful public 
career. 



JACOB HESSING was born in Floyd 
county, Ind., November 27, 1 862, and is a son 
of Jacob and Henrietta (Sclireiver) Hessing; 
the former a native of Germany, who emi- 
grated to this country in 1849, and settled 
in Louisville, where he remained a short 
time, when he removed to a f arm in George- 
town township, near Edwardsville, where 
he spent the remainder of his life, dying 
December 10, 1883. The log house is still 
standing on the farm that was on it when 
he bought it, which was scarcely a farm then 
at all but a tract of woodland. But by 
patient industry and energy he improved it, 
and made the wilderness, figuratively, "re- 
joice and blossom as the rose." Here he 
and his good wife reared their large family of 
children, and here he lived out the measure 
of his days and passed to his reward. 

Henrietta (Sclireiver) Hessing, the mother 
of subject, was born in Germany in 1834, 
came to America in 1S49, and in three 
years married Mr. Hessing. She was the 
mother of eleven children, viz : William H., 
Henry J., Sophia, Mary C, Jacob, Lizzie, 
Nettie, Amanda, Carrie, Anna and Edward ; 
all living in Floyd county. William lives 
in Georgetown township ; Mary married 
Edward Perry, and lives in New Albany; 
Amanda married William Schreiber, and 
lives in Lafayette township; the others 
are still at the old homestead with their 
mother, Henry, the only son of those at 
home, being married. 

The subject of this sketch, Jacob Hess- 
ing, was reared on the farm and educated 
in the common schools of the county. He 
has always followed farming, and is one of 
Floyd county's most energetic and enter- 
prising young farmers. He and his brother, 



who farms with him, make a speciality of 
small fruits, such as strawberries, grapes, 
etc. Everything about the farm indicates 
prosperity. 

GEO. VAIL HOWK, one of the ex- 
judges of the Supreme Court of Indiana, 
and a resident of New Albany, was born in 
Charlestown, Clark county, Indiana, Sep- 
tember 21, 1824 and is the only surviving 
son of Isaac Howk, one of the pioneer law- 
yers of the State. The Howk family are 
of German origin, but settled in Massachu- 
setts early in the last century and engaged 
chiefly in agriculture. Isaac Howk, the 
father of the subject of this sketch, was 
bom on a farm in Berkshire county, Massa- 
chusetts, in July, 1793, and was educated 
at Williams College in that county. In 
1817 he settled in Charlestown, Ind., and 
engaged in the practice of his profession. 
In 1820 he married Miss Elvira Vail, a 
daughter of Doctor Gamaliel Vail, who 
had emigrated from Vermont to Indiana 
Territory in 1806. Their son George V. 
Howk grew to manhood in Charlestown. 
His father died in 1833, but his mother 
devoted the remainder of a long life to the 
education, comfort and happiness of her 
children. She died in New Albany, Ind., 
September 15, 1869. Judge Howk grad- 
uated from Indiana Asbury (now De Pauw 
College) in the class of 1846 under the 
Presidency of Matthew Simpson, widely 
known as one of the Bishops of the Method- 
ist Church. Some of his classmates were 
Newton Booth, ex-United States Senator 
from California ; James P. Luce, James M. 
Beynolds and Joseph Tingley, one of the 
Professors of the College. He studied 
law with Judge Charles Dewey, who was 
for ten years a judge of the Supreme Court 
and one of the ablest jurists the State has 
produced. He was admitted to the bar in 



92 



FLOYD COUNTY 



1847, and settled in New Albany. Decem- 
ber 21, 1848, he married Miss Eleanor 
Dewey, late of Charlestown. Mrs. Howk 
died April 12, 1853, leaving two children. 
September 5, 1854, he married Miss Jane 
Simonson, eldest daughter of General John 
S. Simonson of the United States Army, 
who still survives. They have two children 
John S. and George V. Howk, Jr., and one 
daughter, Jane S. In 1852 and 1858 
Judge Howk was City Judge of New Albany, 
and from 1850 to 1864, during most of the 
time, was a member of the City Council. 
In 1857 he was Judge of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas of Floyd county; in 18G3 he 
represented that county in the House, and 
from 1866 to 1870 he represented Floyd 
and Clark counties in the Senate of In- 
diana. He was chosen one of the Supreme 
Judges of Indiana at the General State 
Eiection in October, 1876. Soon after tak- 
ing his position on the bench, he gave 
promise of the great ability he has since 
displayed. His decisions are clear, con- 
cise and conclusive, taking rank with those 
of the ablest jurists of the State, and his 
suavity of manner toward all with whom he 
came in contact officially made him very 
popular with the attorneys practicing at 
the bar of the Supreme Court. He was 
re-elected Judge in 1882 and defeated in 
1888. In politics Judge Howk is a Demo- 
crat. His mother was a Methodist, and he 
was educated in a Methodist College, but is 
not a member of any religious denomina- 
tion. His wife and children are Presby- 
terians. 

Since the election he has established 
himself at New Albany in the practice of 
law, with his son as partner. 



LOUIS C. HIPPLE was born at New 
Albany, Ind., Sept. 22, 1850. He was 



educated in the public schools of the city 
until the age of 18 years, when he engaged 
with his father, a steamboat cabin builder, 
to learn the carpenter trade, continuing 
until his father went out of the business. 

He was deputy wharf master under his 
father from 1875 to 1878, and after this 
engaged in teaming, during which occupa- 
tion he invented what is known as the Graff 
and Hippie Dump Wagon, which is now in 
use in many of the States, and is a very 
valuable invention, that with proper capital 
could be brought into general use through- 
out the entire country. At New Albany it 
is used by all the principal coal and brick 
dealers ; and the city, as well as at Cincin- 
nati and Louisville and Jeffersonville, and 
by the Government at its depot in the latter 
city; and its inventor has testimonials 
from all who have used it as to its efficiency 
in equalizing and dumping a load. 

In 18S5 he was elected City Marshal of 
New Albany, and re-elected in 1887. In 
the Primary Democratic Convention that 
nominated him in 1885, his majority over 
the highest man of the opponents was 356, 
and at the election it was 1,050. His ma- 
jority at his second election was 1,676. 
He is a self-made and self-respecting man, 
and has built himself up by his own indom- 
itable energy and untiring industry. 

On January 5, 1881, he was married to 
Miss Jennie Eanse, of Floyd county, Ind., 
daughter of George H. Eanse, formerly of 
Virginia. He has one child, Frances D., 
born on Sept. 22, the same date of the 
birth of her father. He is a member of 
the Knights of Honor and of the Knights 
of Pythias, and is a Methodist by educa- 
tion and rearing. 

He is a son of Daniel and Artemesia 
(Lightner) Hippie. His father was a 
native of the borough of Landerburg, Cum- 
berland county, Pa., born Feb. 3, 1812; 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



93 



and his mother of Clark county, Lid., born 
Oct. 22, 1818; and they located at New 
Albany in 1835. His father engaged in 
steamboat building, which he followed for a 
number of years. He was elected jailor 
under Sheriff Thomas Gwin, serving four 
years, from 1848 to 1852. He died March 
17, 1878, leaving a wife and six children, 
George M., John W., Jacob L., Louis C, 
Carrie B. and Eliza E., all of whom are 
living. Mr. Hippie's mother came to New 
Albany in 1829, and married May 1, 1836. 



CAPT. THOMAS HUMPHREYS, de- 
ceased, was born in Philadelphia, July 17, 
1807, and died at New Albany, Ind., Janu- 
ary 19, 1881, aged 73 years and months. 
In February, 1830, he took up his residence 
at New Albany, Ind., where he continued 
to reside to the day of his death. 

He was twice married, the first time to 
Miss Dowerman and the second time to 
Miss Elizabeth Hangary. His first wife 
lived but two years. During his entire 
residence at New Albany, Capt. Thomas 
Humphreys was not only a good but a use- 
ful citizen. 

For many years he was the head of the 
steamboat building firm of Dowerman & 
'Humphreys his business sagacity and un- 
impeachable integrity giving to the firm a 
reputation as one of the first and most re- 
liable boat building firms in the West. 
Every steamboatman knows that Capt. 
Humphreys' word was as good as his bond, 
and the statements he made then in rela- 
tion to contracts were taken as established 
facts. It was his integrity that did more 
than any other single agency to give to 
New Albany the high fame the city once 
enjoyed as the most notable boat building lo- 
cality on the western rivers. From the estab- 
lishment with which he was connected was 



turned out many of the most magnificent 
steamers that have navigated the rivers of 
the West and South. 

Running through his entire life, like a 
line of polished brightness, was this princi- 
ple of integrity. It characterized every 
act of his life, and made for him friends of 
everyone with whom he came in business 
or social contact. 

His morals were most exemplary, and 
his influence was wielded in favor of all 
movements that were for the advance- 
ment and elevation of his fellow-men. 
Yet he was modest and unobstrusive, and, 
while a man of strong convictions, never 
tried to force his views upon others, choos- 
ing rather the principles he advocated 
should illustrate and shine forth through his 
daily walk and conversation. He thus 
filled the measure of good citizenship. 

For several months before his death he 
gave much thought to religion and prepar- 
ation for the change he knew was speedily 
to come. In his inquiries for light upon 
this important subject, he took counsel of 
such men as Rev. J. S. Wood and Peter R. 
Stoy, and when the messenger's summons 
came to him he was ready to depart in 
peace, his last days being full of light and 

joy- 

He left a wife, one son and two daugh- 
ters, Mrs. S. M. Weir and Mrs. Dr. G. H. 
Cannon being the daughters. The surviv- 
ing son is Mr. Daniel Humphreys. 



REUBEN KING JENKS was born in 
Providence, R. I., in the year 1817, son of 
George B. R. Jenks, whose ancestors were 
of English origin. Subject's mother, 
Aljaha Newman, was a daughter of 
Nathaniel Newman, who was born in 
Massachusetts. 

Subject was married in Montgomery 



94 



FLOYD COUNTY 



county, Ohio, in 1840, to Miss Hope Graves, 
daughter of Zepheniah Graves, who was a 
native of Rhode Island. Mr. Jenks emi- 
grated from his native State to Ohio in 
1829, thence to Indiana in about 1848. 
Subject and wife have raised eight children ; 
all lived to be grown : Amanda, George, 
Oscar, Zepheniah, Benjamin, Job W., 
Julia and Frank. 

Our subject followed carpentering for 
some time, then clerked for a time. Was 
in United States service some three years 
during the late civil war. Four of his sons 
George, Oscar, Zepheniah and Benjamin 
were in the service with him. 

He has filled some positions of profit and 
trust, but has never been an office seeker. 



CHARLES L. JEWETT, lawyer, New 
Albany, Ind., was born October 6, 1848, 
in Hanover, Ind., being the only son of 
Jonathan and Mary (Wells) Reid. His 
father died when the boy was an infant, 
and his mother married Judge P. H. Jew- 
ett, who adopted him as a son, and by 
legal process had his name changed to 
Jewett. At the age of fifteen he entered 
the State University, at Blooinington, where 
he remained until 1S66, when he was ad- 
mitted to the College at Hanover, and stud- 
ied for one year. His health failing, he 
loft school, and moved to Montana Terri- 
tory, where he was successively prospector, 
gold miner, and Government surveyor. In 
the latter capacity he surveyed all the 
lands lying near the headwaters of the 
Missouri river. These two years of pio- 
neer life restored his health and secured 
for him a physical stamina and develop- 
ment, as well as a fund of experience. 
Returning to his native State in 1S6G, he 
prepared to enter upon the profession to 
which he had directed all his studies, and 



toward which his efforts were now bent. 
He was admitted to the bar at New Alba- 
ny, October 6, of the same year; immedi- 
ately commenced practice. October 16, 
1869, he was chosen Justice of the Peace, 
but he resigned within one year. In 1871 
he was appointed Deputy Prosecuting At- 
torney of Scott county, and in 1872 was 
elected District Attorney for the district 
composed of Scott, Clark, Floyd, Wash- 
ington and Harrison counties. In March, 
1873, he was appointed by Governor Hen- 
dricks Prosecutor for the Fifth Judicial 
Curcuit, and in October of that year was 
elected to the same office for a full term. 
He was re-elected in 1874, and continued to 
hold the position until October 22, 1877. 
In 1878 he was Democratic candidate for 
Judge of the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Jewett is 
one of the acknowledged leaders of the 
Democratic party in Indiana, having 
been a member of the State Central Com- 
mittee in 1876, Speaker of the House in 
session of 18S4-5, chairman of County Cen- 
tral Committee and was the chairman of 
Democratic State Central Committee in 
Cleveland and Harrison campaign. He is 
an organizer of rare ability and tact, and 
an able lawyer. 



HON. FRANKLIN C. JOHNSON, born 
near Holland Patent, Lewis comity, New 
York, June 23, 1836. His parents were 
both natives of New York, but the family 
is of English origin. His father, Horace 
Johnson, was a farmer and served as pro- 
bate judge. His mother was Eliza Pratt. 
Mr. Johnson was reared in New York and 
educated at Lowville and Rome Academies, 
graduating from the latter after a four 
years' course, in 1851. In 1853 he located 
at New Albany, engaging as a clerk in the 
hardware store of Brooks & Brown, Brooks 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



95 



at the time being president of the New Al- 
bany & Salem (L., N. A. & C.) Railroad. 
In 1855 he became a partner with J. J. 
Brown and John E. Crane in the business, 
continuing 3 years. At the breaking out 
of the war he engaged in the nursery busi- 
ness, which he continued till 1876. In 
1872 he was appointed by President Grant, 
on the nomination of Gov. Morton of In- 
diana, commissioner of the Philadelphia 
National Centennial, serving five years- 
In 1874 he was elected to the State Senate 
on the Democratic ticket for four years, 
and was chairman of the Committees on the 
State Reformatory and Benevolent Institu- 
tions. He drafted the bill making Mrs. T. 
A. Hendricks, Mrs. Roache and Mrs. Coffin 
trustees of the Women's Reformatory of 
Indiana. In 1878 he was appointed by 
President Hayes, to the Paris Exposition, 
and there served on the International Jury. 
He was appointed by Gov. Williams of 
Indiana a member of the International 
Congress that assembled in the Palace 
Crocadero, Paris, being the only member 
from the United States, being a 
member with the Prince of Wales, who 
represented Great Britain. For ten years 
he was a member of the State Board of 
Agriculture from this District. In 1880 
Mr. Johnson went to Colorado and engaged 
in the practice of law with his cousin, Ste- 
phen R. Pratt, and in 1882 was nominated 
a candidate for Secretary of State. He re- 
turned to New Albany in 1886, but while 
in Colorado organized the First National 
Bank at Gunnison, in which he is one of 
the largest stockholders. He served two 
terms as a member of the City Council 
from the first ward. In February, 1859, 
he was married to Mary E. Murray, a na- 
tive of Breckinridge county, Ky., and sister 
of ex-Gov. Eli H. Murray, of Utah, and a 
lady of rare accomplishments. Tlnee 



children were born of the marriage — Frank 
H. and -Albert S., both now residents of 
Denver, Colo., and Eliza. Mr. Johnson 
owns about 150 lots in New Albany, and a 
fine farm in Clarke county, between New 
Albany and Jeffersonville. 



PHILIP M. KEPLEY, born near Green- 
ville, Floyd county, Ind., October 27,1818. 
His parents were Andrew and Mary (Moser) 
Kepley, his father being a farmer and a 
mechanic. 

Mr. Kepley was reared upon his father's 
farm, and educated in the common schools 
of the county, remaining upon a farm until 
he was 28 years old, when he removed to 
the city of New Albany and engaged in the 
grocery business, which he continued for 
some years. 

He was twice elected county treasurer 
of Floyd county, and held the office for 
four years. 

He has also served several terms as a 
member of the City Council of New Albany, 
and is at present a member of that 
body. 

At the end of his term as county treas- 
urer, Mr. Kepley entered into the livery 
business, on State street, opposite the 
court house, and is at present engaged in 
that business. 

In all the official stations he has been 
called to fill, he has discharged his duties 
with fidelity to the interest of the people 
and with honor to himself. 

He was married in 1842, to Miss Mary 
M.Cook, daughter of Philip Cook, of Floyd 
county. Of this marriage nine children 
were born, all of whom received collegi- 
ate educations, and all of whom have mar- 
ried ; David M., Nancy I., John L., Mary E., 
Sarah, Anna B., Martha E., Charles A. 
and Fannie. 



96 



FLOYD COUNTY 



FEED C. KISTNEK was bom in Louis- 
ville, December 5, 1856, and is a son of 
Joseph and Caroline (Falk) Kistner, natives 
of Germany, but who came to New Albany 
in 1857. His father has been in the cloth- 
ing business ever since his arrival in this 
country, and is an active and energetic 
business man. 

The subject graduated in commercial 
school, and engaged in the clothing busi- 
ness with his father until 1SS4, when he 
entered into partnership with Mr. Paul 
Eeising in the brewery business, and has 
given his full attention to it ever since. 

In 1881 he was married to Miss Mary 
Eeising. 

Mr. Kistner is the Fifth Ward Commit- 
teeman on the Democratic County Central 
Committee. 

GEOEGE KEAFT, a native of France, 
was born in November, 1827, came to 
America in 1S45, and located at New 
Albany. He immediately engaged at his 
trade, that of chair-making, and, being 
a fine workman and very genial and social, 
he made friends rapidly, and soon built up 
a most prosperous business. He was a 
man of enterprise as well as industry, and 
on April 21, 1856, added the furniture and 
undertaking business to his chair manufac- 
tory. This business he prosecuted suc- 
cessfully till his death, which occurred May 
25, 1881, at the age of 51 years. He left 
a wife and five children — Frank A., Joseph 
H., Catharine, Ida M. and Mamie, Cath- 
arine dying June 14, 18S5. Being very 
popular and well liked by all, he was fre- 
quently solicited to run for office. This he 
constantly refused to do. He was a mem- 
ber of several benevolent societies, being 
treasurer of one for eighteen years. He 
was also treasurer of several others. He 
was a strict member of the Catholic Church, 



and having a fine tenor voice, took great 
interest in the church choirs and other 
vocal organizations. He was married in 
1852 to Mary E.Terstegge, of New Albany, 
a cousin of Mr. J. J.Terstegge, the founder 
of the National Stove Works of New Albany. 
Frank A. Kraft, his oldest son, was born 
at New Albany, Lid., Feb. 9, 1854, and 
was educated in the parochial and public 
schools and the New Albany Business Col- 
lege. He succeeded his father to the very 
large business left at his death, and this, 
by his energy, enterprise and popularity, 
he has very largely expanded. He is a 
member of the Catholic Church. On Oct. 
28, 1879, he was married to Miss Minnie 
Euppert, of New Albany. They have three 
children living — Bertha, George A. and 
Lula May. 

HENEY LEGG, a native of London, 
England, was born September 9, 1833. He 
is a plate glass worker, and was foreman 
of the casting department of the Thames 
Plate Glass Works, of London, England, for 
twenty years. While thus employed he 
was engaged by Capt. John B. Ford to 
come to New Albany, Ind., and take charge, 
as foreman, of the casting department in 
the immense plate glass works now owned 
and operated by the W. C. DePauw Com- 
pany — the DePauw American Plate Glass 
Works. He left London and came to New 
Albany in 1872, and remained until 1874, 
when he returned to London for his family, 
returning with them. His family con- 
sisted of his wife and six children — John, 
Walter J., Edward, Henry, Elizabeth and 
Emma. He also brought over with him 
several skilled plate glass workers and their 
families, to be employed iu the New Albany 
Plate Glass Works. Mr. Legg brought 
the box coal furnace to New Albany, and 
carried the first Dinas brick from Wales to 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



97 



New Albany, this brick being used for the 
caps of glass furnaces. They are now used 
everywhere in glass furnaces. He was mar- 
ried in December, 1857, to Miss Caroline 
Price, of London, England. He is a mem- 
ber of DePauw Masonic Lodge, and when 
but 21 years old joined the Duke of Bruns- 
wick Lodge, London, and is still a member 
in good standing. He visited this lodge 
while in London in 1888. He is also a 
member of the Knights of Honor and of 
the Knights and Ladies of Honor. He has 
filled the Master's, Senior and Junior 
Deacons' chairs in DePauw Masonic Lodge, 
at New Albany. He continues as foreman 
of the casting department of the W. C. 
DePauw Company — the DePauw American 
Glass Works. 



WILLIAM G. LIGHTNER, bom at St. 
Louis, Mo., February 9, 1827. His parents 
located in New Albany, Ind., when he was 
seven years old, where he was educated in 
the common schools. After leaving school 
he learned blacksmithing with his father. 

In 1845 he went on the river to learn 
steamboat engineering, and this business 
he continued until 1865. The first boat he 
was on was the Greenwood, running in the 
New Orleans and Yazoo river trade ; he was 
on several steamers running in the New 
Orleans and Yazoo river trade. Quitting 
the river in 1865, he engaged in the barrel, 
stave and shingle manufacture in Clark 
county, Ind., doing a large business. 

In 1S73 he returned to New Albany and 
took the position of chief engineer at the 
New Albany Woolen and Cotton Mills, which 
he still fills, being in all respects a first- 
class engineer. 

In 1854 he was married to Miss Adkin- 
son, of New Albany, a native of Nashville, 
Term. They have no children. 



He has been a member of the I. 0. 0. F., 

both the Subordinate Lodge and the En- 
ciimpment, since 1853. Both he and his 
wife are members of the M. E. Church. 

His father was Jacob Lightner, a native 
of Pennsylvania ; and his mother was 
Eleanor Brown, a native of Kentucky. His 
father, who was a soldier of the War of 1812, 
died at New Albany, 1847. His mother 
died in 1884, age 83. They left five chil- 
dren, all now living: Artemesia, widow of 
Daniel Hippie, resides at Memphis, Tenn. ; 
George W. married at Evansville, Ind. ; 
Elizabeth, wife of Peter Mann, on a farm 
near New Albany; William G., residing on 
a farm near New Albany ; Laura B., wife 
of W. B. Smith, of New Albany. 



JACOB LOESCH, a native of Floyd 
county, Ind., was born June 4, 1844, five 
miles west of New Albany. His father, John 
Loesch, was a native of Prussia, and came to 
Floyd county in 1843. His mother, Cath- 
arine Fox, was a native of Germany. The 
subject of this sketch remained upon his 
father's farm until he was eighteen years 
old, when he was apprenticed and served 
three years at blacksmithing, at the end 
of which time he entered upon his trade at 
Georgetown, conducting the business from 
1867J;o 1880. During the war he tried to 
enlist in the army, but was rejected on 
account of his bad health. In 1880 he was 
appointed Deputy Sheriff by Sheriff H. R. 
W. Meyer, serving through the two terms 
of that officer. In 1884 he was elected 
Sheriff, and was re-elected in 1886. The 
county of Floyd never had a more upright, 
energetic or faithful officer, as his eight 
years in the public service attests. In No- 
vember, 1873, he was united in marriage to 
Miss Margaret J. Knittle, of Floyd county, 
but a native of Harrison county, Ind., and 



98 



FLOYD COUNTY 



daughter of Samuel Knittle, a native of 
Pennsylvania. One child has been born 
of this marriage — Agatha Catharine. Mr. 
Loesch is a decided Democrat in politics, 
and in religion a member of the Catholic 
Church. 

JOHN J. LYONS, a native of Warrens- 
burg, Warren county, N. Y., was born 
March 15, 1856, but when quite small his 
parents removed to New York City, where 
they remained one year and then located 
at Sharpsburg, Pa., five miles from Pitts- 
burgh, where they resided three years. 
Not satisfied with the location after a three 
years' residence, they removed to Kentucky, 
and thence to New Albany, Ind. 

John J. Lyons attended the public schools 
in which he was educated. After coming 
to New Albany he worked eleven years in 
the rolling mills. In 1879 he went to Jef- 
ferson county, Kentucky, and engaged in 
the grocery business. Being an energetic 
and pushing business man he prospered, 
but in 1881 sold out and returned to New 
Albany, where, with John Russell as part- 
ner, he engaged in the hotel, livery and 
feed business, keeping the West End Ho- 
tel, at the corner of West Main and Seventh 
streets. 

Mr. Lyons is a very popular man and 
thorough in business methods as well as 
public-spirited. 

He was married in August,1878, to Miss 
Malissa Martin, of Jefferson county, Ky., 
and they have three children — Mary, Cath- 
erine and Emily. 

He is a member of the Catholic Knights 
of America, the Ancient Order of Hiber- 
nians, and the Catholic Church. His par- 
ents, Michael and Mary Lyons, were both 
natives of County Cork, Ireland. His 
father died when he was a child. His 
mother married again to Edward Dumphy. 



She died at New Albany in September, 

1884. 

FRED MAETSCHKE, one of the young 
progressive business men of New Albany, 
was born in the northern part of Germany 
in 1861, and is the son. of Gottlieb and 
Charlotte (Holm) Maetschke, natives of 
Germany. Fred, the subject of this sketch, 
received a limited education, and came to 
America in 1881. He located in New York 
and followed tailoring. After a time he 
went to New Jersey, where he followed the 
same business, and in 1883 came to New 
Albany. Here he continued the same busi- 
ness, and in 1888 formed a partnership 
with H. G. Harmeling, and is now doing a 
prosperous business. He is a member of 
the German Evangelical Church, and is 
Democratic in politics. 



MORRIS McDONALD, Sr., was born at 
Centerville, Ohio, November 10, 1836. His 
parents were John S. and Nancy McDon- 
ald, and he comes from a lineage noted in 
the legal and financial history of the coun- 
try. 

His father was a native of Pennsylvania, 
a man thoroughly read in the law, and 
eminent in his life as a commercial man, 
banker and manufacturer. 

His first banking experience was as an 
officer of the New Albany Branch of the 
old State Bank, of Indiana, and at the ex- 
piration of its charter and the chartering 
of the Bank of the State of Indiana, he was 
elected president of this bank serving in 
that capacity during its existence. 

He was one of the incorporators of the 
First National Bank of New Albany, and 
was connected with that institution till his 
death. He also was the president and 
manager of the New Albany Savings Bank 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



99 



during its entire existence. He was largely 
engaged in pork-packing during the fifties 
and up to about 18(35; was a stockholder 
in the New Albany Glass Works for several 
years, and for ten years a stockholder in 
the New Albany Eail Mill. 

From 1850 to 1854 he was extensively 
engaged in milling and the grain and flour 
trade. 

He died in 1877, honored and mourned 
by the community in which so many years 
of his useful and active life had been passed, 
leaving the impression of his business 
energy and public spirit upon the city 
whose material interests he did so much to 
promote. 

The mother of Mr. Morris McDonald is 
descended from a historic American family. 

She is the daughter of Nathaniel Mc- 
Lean, an eminent citizen of Ohio, and the 
niece of the late Judge John McLean, of 
the Supreme Court of the United States, a 
noted Whig politician in his day, but so 
thoroughly an anti-slavery man that he was 
nominated by the Free Soil party as a can- 
didate for the Presidency. 

She is a woman of strong individuality 
of character, and prominent in the moral 
and philanthropic enterprises of the M. E. 
Church, of which she is a devoted member. 
Descending from such a lineage, and inher- 
iting the indomitable business qualities of 
both parents, it is not remarkable that the 
subject of this brief sketch, Mr. Morris 
McDonald, has risen to a position of busi- 
ness and political eminence and leadership. 

Possessing an independent spirit, he 
commenced the active pursuits of life when 
only a boy. 

His education was received in the public 
schools of New Albany. He entered As- 
bury University, at Greencastle, Ind., but 
the tediousness of a college course was little 
suited to the inclinations of one whose 



ambition was to enter the commercial and 
financial world and grasp the enterprises 
that opened before him. 

He therefore remained but a short time 
at college, and, returning to Ins home in 
New Albany, soon entered into the pork- 
packing business with his father, and there- 
in laid the foundation of his fortune. He 
soon became a large stockholder in the 
Bank of the State of Indiana, transferring 
his holdings to the First National Bank of 
New Albany on its organization, and be- 
coming one of its directors. He was a 
large stockholder in the New Albany Bail 
Mill for ten years, and during that period 
the superintendent and business manager of 
this extensive manufactory. Selling his 
holdings in this mill he engaged in the pork, 
flour and grain trade, and for some time 
operated flour mills. He was also at one 
time a large stockholder in the New Albany 
Glass Works, finally purchasing the entire 
property, which he soon after sold. For 
all his business enterprises he brought 
such commercial aptitude and thorough 
push that they proved prosperous. 

Mr. McDonald was for a number of years 
prominent in political life — a leader in his 
party, the Bepublican — and could have 
had high official position, had he not 
always declined to become a candidate for 
office. In 188-1 he represented his party 
as a delegate for the State at large to the 
National Convention at Chicago. 

He was the original proprietor of and 
platted the beautiful suburban addition to 
New Albany, Silver Grove. 

He was among the chief promoters of 
the building of the New Albany & St. Louis 
Air-Line Batlroad, and for many years a 
du - ector in the company. 

He was the originator of the legislation 
and the organizer of the Indiana company 
that secured the erection of the elegant 



100 



FLOYD COUNTY 



steel cantilever bridge over the Ohio river 
between New Albany and Louisville, and 
but for his efforts, sagacity and indefatiga- 
ble labors this fine structure would not to- 
day span the Ohio. He organized the com- 
pany that built the Cannelton & Tell City 
Eailroad, and was its president during its 
construction. 

He is a man of great kindliness of heart 
and a generous helper of the poor. He is 
withal very urbane and genial in man- 
ners and a man to whom his friends are 
strongly attached. 

He was married in 1859 to Miss Sallie 
Singer, two sons and a daughter blessing 
the union. The eldest son, John S., a 
prominent and thorough business man, is 
an enterprising and successful grain dealer ; 
the youngest son, Morris, is the paymaster 
of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis 
Railroad, 21 years of age and among the 
rapidly rising young railroad men of the 
country. 

WILLIAM H. McKAY, general insur- 
ance iigent, was born in Bullitt county, Ky., 
July G, 1847. At the age of five years his 
parents removed to Missouri, where he was 
reared. After attending the common 
schools of Missouri he became a student of 
Eastman's Business College, of New York, 
from which he graduated in August, 1866. 
He engaged in the insurance business, and 
in 1872 took up his residence in New 
Albany, Ind., where he entered upon the 
insurance business with Dr. M. C. Brown- 
ing, under the firm name of Browning & 
McKay. 

His partner, Dr. Browning, was lost on 
the steamer, Pat Rogers, August 4, 1874; 
but the style of the firm remained un- 
changed until February, 1877, when he 
purchased, and has ever since conducted, 
the entire business, the largest of its kind 



in the city, representing twenty fire com- 
panies, in addition to his being general 
agent for the Union Central Life and also 
agent for the Standard Accident Com- 
panies. 

Mr. McKay was united in marriage in 
1869, to Miss Mary Wilson, of Macon City, 
Mo., a daughter, Bonnie, blessing the 
union. 

Mr. McKay takes an active interest in 
all moral and religious enterprises, is a 
deacon in the Third Presbyterian Church, 
and a well known Sunday-school worker. 

He is vice-president of two prosperous 
building and loan associations, and has 
taken a good deal of interest in real estate 
in the city, having erected two elegant resi- 
dences — one on East Oak street and one 
on Ekin avenue. 

He is a son of Col. D. C. McKay, a re- 
tired capitalist, now residing in Kansas. 



CHARLES McKENNA, a native of Ire- 
land, was born in 1822, and came to the 
United States in 1849, locating at New 
Albany. He was an expert stone mason 
before he left his native land, and, on ar- 
riving at his adopted home, at once en- 
gaged in work at his trade. 

He is a man of great energy and force of 
character, and these traits have been prom- 
inent through his life, although he is very 
quiet disposition. It may be said of him, 
however, that no more genial or more 
upright citizen lives in New Albany. By 
his industry and high sense of honor and 
integrity, he is possessed of a competency 
of this world's wealth. 

He was for many year a street and build- 
ing contractor, and the work he did upon 
streets is to-day the best evidence of his 
honesty and expertness as a workman. 

In 1869 he was elected on the Demo- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



101 



cratic ticket Street Commissioner of New 
Albany, serving four years, leaving the of- 
fice with the respect as well a? the regret 
of all the citizens. 

In 1882 he was Market Master, serving 
faithfully and satisfactorily. He was mar- 
ried in 1848, in Ireland, to Miss Mary Bra- 
dy, a native of that country. They have no 
children. He is a member of the Catholic 
Church. 

SAMUEL C. McNEFF, bom January 
14, 1833, in Morgan county, Ind., was 
reared in and attended the publie schools 
of that county until 16 years old, when he 
went to Iowa and spent one year. 

In 1852, he came to New Albany, Ind., 
his present residence, and learned the 
trade of carpenter with Charles Sackett, 
forming a partnership with Mr. Sackett in 
1864, the firm name being McNeff & Co., 
the partnership continuing 18 years. Dur- 
ing these years the firm erected the mag- 
nificent court house at New Albany ; 1865, 
two large business houses for G. C. Can- 
non, on Pearl street ; the splendid busi- 
ness block of Jacob Goodbub, Pearl street, 
the Windsor Hotel building, and many 
others of equal note, style and beauty. 
The firm dissolved in 1880. 

Mr. McNeff carried on business alone 
for two years. In 1883 he formed a 
partnership with Christian Wolf, under 
the firm name of McNeff & Wolf. 

In August, 1886, he and William Houpt, 
under the firm name of McNeff & Houpt, 
commenced the manufacture of Patent 
Clamp Brick, a process by which brick are 
made much harder and burn more even 
than by any other, and this business is 
still carried on. 

In 1856 he was married to Miss Sarah 
E. Littell, of Clark county, Ind. Two 
children of the marriage survive : James 



W., who married Miss Mary Smithwick, of 
New Albany, and Lazette C, the wife of 
Orry F. Laduc, of Louisville, Ky. 

Mr. McNeff has been an Odd Fellow since 
1856 and a member of the Christian 
Church since 1863. 



CAPT. CHARLES T. MATTHEWS is a 
native of New Albany, Ind., and was bom 
February 28, 1848. He is a son of Joshua 
and Eliza (Reed) Matthews, — the former 
was from Boston, Mass., and settled here 
before subject was born. He was a shoe 
manufacturer, and died in 1877. Charles 
T., the subject of this sketch, received his 
education in the public schools. When 11 
years old he commenced work as a team- 
ster, which he followed until he was 15 
years. 

He then entered the army and was made 
a messenger in the quartermaster's depart- 
ment under Capt. Crane, remaining with 
him two years. He then came home and 
entered the fire department, in which he 
served^ four years, when he resigned for the 
purpose of learning the trade of heater 
at New Albany Forge. This he followed 
until the panic of 1873, when he went into 
the glass works for about three years, then 
into the fire department again, and was ap- 
pointed captain in 1878, and served under 
four different chiefs. He was elected chief 
in 1885, and has been elected each succes- 
sive year since. 

He was married in 1874 to Miss Mary 
Hermey, of Clark county, a daughter of 
John and Margaret (Reed) Hermey. They 
have one child, Harry. Capt. Matthews is 
a K. of P. and K. of L. and in politics is a 
Democrat. 

JOHN S. MARSH, born in New Albany, 
Ind., September 1, 1844; educated in the 



102 



FLOYD COUNTY 



public schools of his native city, and at the 
age of 19 enlisted in the Ninth Indiana 
Infantry in the three months' service, under 
the first call of President Lincoln for 75,000 
men. 

He served his term, and returned home and 
took a position at $1.25 per day as a 
laborer in his father's rolling mill, which 
stood on the site of the present Ohio Falls 
Iron Works, and for twenty-six years has 
continued at the same place, though the 
small mill of his father has given place to 
the immense works now occupying its site. 
In all these years he never lost two weeks 
from work at any one time. 

February 22, 1877, he was appointed 
manager of the Ohio Falls Iron Works, 
which position he now holds. 

He married Miss Martha Summers, of 
Utica, Ind., in 1863, who died in 1875, leav- 
ing two children, James and Lillie ; Lillie 
is the wife of Joseph Brinley, of Leadville, 
Colo. He married again in 1S77 to Miss 
Clara Kepler, and by this marrige has three 
children — Oliver H., Lena W. and Bertie 
B. 

He has filled all the chairs in the I. 0. 
0. F., and is a member of the Grand Lodge 
of that Order. He is also a member of the 
K. of P. and the G. A. R. and of the M. E. 
Cburch. 

He is the son of Samuel S. and Mary 
Ann Stevenson Marsh. His father has 
been connected with steamboat smithery, 
castings and rolling mills all his life, and is 
a native of New Albany and one of its sub- 
stantial citizens. 



ROBERT N. MORRIS was born Novem- 
ber 18, 1858, in New Albany, Ind., and is 
a son of William D. and Eliza A. (Cutshaw) 
Morris, the latter a native of Salem, Ind., 
and the former a native of Virginia, and 



who came to Indiana with his parents, and 
settled near Greenville in the early history 
of the State. He was a produce merchant, 
and also did considerable wholesale busi- 
ness. He died June 28, 1S82, aged 62 years. 

Robert N. Morris, the subject of this 
sketch, was raised in New Albany and edu- 
cated in the public schools. Pursuing his 
studies under competent teachers, he 
mastered the common branches and acquired 
a good practical education that has been of 
great benefit to him in his active business 
life. He was elected city clerk in 18S3, 
and re-elected in 1885. 

He became a candidate for auditor in 
1886 and, illustrative of his popularity, was 
elected by 1,187 majority against Demo- 
cratic nominee. He is a prominent Mason 
and senior warden of his lodge; belongs 
also to the Odd Fellows and to the Knights 
Pythias. 

WILLIAM MURPHY (deceased) was 
born January 9, 1809, in Hampshire 
county, Va., and was a son of John and 
Sally (Miller) Murphy, the former a native 
of "Auld Ireland," and the latter of Vir- 
ginia. Her grandfather, Henry Miller, came 
to this country with William Penn, and at 
one time owned a farm on which the city 
of Philadelphia now stands. 

William Murphy, the subject, was reared 
on a farm ; when very young removed with 
his parents to Shenandoah county. Here 
he was taken by Garrett Seymour, a large 
planter and slave owner. He worked for 
him until he was 15 years of age, when he 
became overseer and drover — it being his 
business to take all the surplus cattle 
raised on Seymour's ijlantation to New 
York and dispose of them. He followed 
this until he was 24 years of age, when he 
married Miss Eliza Sills, of his native 
county of Hampshire. The result of this 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



103 



union was six children, two of whom are 
living : Sarah married Mr. Martin and after- 
ward Mr. Tyler, and lives in Harrison 
county; Hattie married John M. Utz, and 
lives in New Albany. His wife died about 
1849, and in 1850 he was married to Miss 
Catherine Weaver, of Floyd county. The 
result of this marriage was ten children, of 
whom seven are now living, as follows : 
William H., Isaac, Amanda, Archie G., 
Mattie, Kate and James E. Those dead 
are Franklin, Charles and Jane. Previous 
to his second marriage he removed to 
Floyd county, and settled on Isaac Park's 
land near Edwardsville. His neighbors 
collected and -erected a home to shelter his 
family, which they completed in one day. 
In after life he was often heard to say that 
those were the happiest days of his life 
spent in that little log house. He remained 
there seven years and then removed to the 
farm of William Sloan, and then to the 
farm now owned by Charles Duncan. He 
met with revers.es here, sickness, failure of 
crops, etc., which embarassed him finan- 
cially. He sold corn at twelve and a half 
cents per bushel, oats at seven cents, eggs 
three cents per dozen, and paid thirty-five 
cents a pound for coffee, calico fifty cents 
per yard. He followed teaming for a while, 
hauling, principally for Benjamin Baker, 
produce to Louisville, passing down the 
Knobs before the Pike was made. He then 
moved to New Albany, where he lived some 
twenty years. He worked in the shipyard 
of John Evans, and worked in boiler shed 
for Harper, who discharged him because 
he would vote for Henry Clay, in 1 844, in- 
stead of James K. Polk for President. He 
followed different kinds of business until 
1S64, when he bought a farm in George- 
town township, on Indiana creek, to which 
he devoted his entire attention until his 
death March 28, 1886, at the age of 77 



years. He and wife joined the M. E. 
Churchin 1867, and for nineteen years lived 
a most exemplary and consistent Christian 
life. 

Archie Murphy was born in Floyd 
county, December 4, 1859 ; was reared on a 
farm, educated in common schools until 
17, when he entered Marengo Academy, 
in Crawford county, taking a regular 
course. He then commenced teaching, 
and has taught every winter since ; he also 
took a business course in New Albany Com- 
mercial College in 1880. He is one of the 
most successful teachers in Floyd county. 

James B. Murphy was born December 
3, 1867. He was brought up on a farm, 
educated in the common schools, spent two 
years at Hartville school and one term at 
Marengo Academy, and also took a busi- 
ness course in New Albany Commercial 
Scuool. He also teaches in the public 
schools. The Murphy boys, as they are 
called, are industrious young men, and own 
250 acres of fine land. 



GEOBGE A. NEWHOUSE, Sit., was 
born in Germany in 1841, and came with 
his parents to America in 1851, locating at 
New Albany, where he was educated in the 
public and private schools. 

He learned the trade of machinist in the 
shops of the Louisville, New Albany & Chi- 
cago Bailroad, with which company he has 
been for thirty-three years, filling the posi- 
tion of general foreman for many years, 
resigning it in the autumn of 1888. He is 
regarded as one among the best machinist 
in Indiana. 

He is a Past Master Mason and treasurer 
of New Albany Lodge, No. 39; a Past 
Grand in the Odd Fellows, and a Past 
High Priest in the Encampment of the 
same order ; a member of the Knights of 



104 



FLOYD COUNTY 



Pythias ; a member of the German M. E. 
Church, and treasurer of its Board of 
Trustees, and has been superintendent of 
its Sunday-school for many years. He is 
also Recording Secretary of the Board of 
Directors of the Y. M. C. A. 

In 1860 he was married to Mary E. 
Edler, of Wheeling, W. Va., and seven 
children have been bom to them : Ade- 
laide, wife of Wm. A. Laufer, of Louisville ; 
John F., who married Louisa Hartman, of 
New Albany, and is master mechanic of 
the Louisville Southern Railroad and the 
K. & I. Bridge Company ; Louisa J., wife 
of Henry L. Graf, agricultural dealer, New 
Albany; Florence A.; George A., clerk for 
Henry L. Graf ; Charles H., learning the 
trade of machinist; Edward A., and Flor- 
ence. 

George A. Newhouse, Sr., is the son of 
Frederick L. and Adelaide (Huneke) New- 
house, both natives of Germany. His 
father died at New Albany in 1880, aged 
71 ; his mother died at New Albauy in 
1871, aged 61. He has one sister, Mary, 
wife of Charles Goodbub, New Albany, Ind. 



DR. ELIJAH NEWLAND is a represen- 
tative of an old family. His ancestors came 
to America with William Penn, in 1682, the 
good old Quaker who settled Pennsylvania. 
Samuel Newland, Governor of the Bank of 
England a century or more ago. 

Dr. Newland was born in Burke county, N. 
C, June 20, 1807, and is a son of Benjamin 
Newland, a native of York county, Pa., 
who was born in 1763, and who was a sol- 
dier in the Revolutionary war. When but 
sixteen years of age, he stood his draft, 
drew a lucky number, shouldered his mus- 
ket, which he carried until , the close of the 
war. He was one of the guards of Lord 



Cornwallis, after his surrender at York- 
town. 

He was reared a Quaker, and after go- 
ing into the Revolutionary army he was 
disowned by his people. He did not re- 
turn home after the war was over, but sub- 
sequently married Miss Catherine Tate, a 
native of Pennsylvania. 

She was a daughter of Robert Tate, who 
said he was "neither Robert Tate, bond- 
man, nor Robert Tate, Yoeman, but Rob- 
ert Tate, Gentleman." 

Benj. Newland, the father of Dr. New- 
land, left Pennsylvania shortly after his 
marriage and went to Virginia, and later 
to North Carolina, from whence he removed 
to Salem, Ind., in 1825, when Gen John 
DePauw, Saml. Milroy, Alexander Little 
and Christopher Harrison (the latter the 
first Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana), were 
all prominent in politics. 

Dr. Newland, the subject of this sketch, 
attended school at Salem, at the Seminary 
of the famous John I. .Morrison. He 
read medicine with his brother, Dr. Rob- 
ert C. Newland, beginning his studies 
in 1828, attended lectures in 1829-30 
at old Transylvania University at Lex- 
ington, Ky., when it was in the zenith 
of its glory, and the most famous institu- 
tion of learniug west of the Alleghanies. 

He graduated in 1830, and in April of 
that year began the practice of his chosen 
profession at Salem, his old home, — first 
with his brother until the latter removed 
to Arkansas in 1836, and after that alone. 

He had a large and lucrative practice, 
extending over six counties. This he kept 
up about twenty-three years in Washing- 
ton, performing nearly all the surgical op- 
erations in that county. There was a 
United States three per cent fund agent, 
to be appointed by the County Board as 
manager of that per cent fund, and he was 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



105 



appointed manager. In 1843 he collected 
the taxes of the county, and in the Presi- 
dential election of 1844, he was on the Polk 
electoral ticket. 

In 1S52 he was elected State Treasurer, 
running 2,500 ahead of the ticket, and in 
1S54 he was nominated by the Democratic 
State Convention, by acclamation, for re- 
election, but the Know Nothing craze de- 
feated him. He could have claimed the 
office on a technicality, as the Know Noth- 
ing candidate was voted for under two or 
three different given names, but he waved 
the right. 

In 1866 he was elected to the Legisla- 
ture from Floyd county, having removed to 
New Albany in 1857. The Democrats were 
in the minority but he was an influential 
representative and was elected without dif- 
ficulty. When he removed to New Albany, 
Alexander Burnett, ex-Lieut. Gov. Hon. M.C. 
Kerr, Jno. B. Windstanley and A. P. Will- 
ard were prominent in politics. 

In 1853 he quit the practice of medicine, 
as he thought he had done his share of hard 
work and would surrender the field to 
younger men. They would not let him 
retire from practice while at Salem, and 
for that reason was elected Treasurer of 
State and removed to Indianapolis. 

He was married in 1832 to Miss Amanda 
Lyon, a sister of Dawson Lyon, Esq., de- 
ceased, of Salem. She died July 6, 1833. 

He was married again to Martha Mc- 
Pheeters, of Washington county. She died 
July 1, 1838. And he again married, in 
1841, Margaret M. Talbot, of Madison, 
Ind. He has no children living ; a daugh- 
ter of his own was the second wife of Wash- 
ington C. DePauw. Newland T. and 
Charles W. DePauw are his only grand- 
children. 

He was cashier of the Bank of Salem, 
at New Albany, for four years, from 1857 



to 1861, when, owing to ill health, he went 
out "hunting and fishing." 

He owns twenty-eight acres of land in 
Floyd county, 1,000 acres in Lawrence 
county, 630 acres in Washington county. 
He has been a member of the Episcopal 
Church for over twenty years. 

In 1841 he joined the Methodist Church, 
and for twenty-five years was a consistent 
member, when he joined the Episcopal 
Church. He is a prominent Mason and a 
Knight Templar. He is a strong Prohi- 
bitionist, and believes in a national law 
abolishing the liquor traffic. 



FRANCIS NORTON, born October 30, 
1846, at Bordentown, N. J. When a child 
his parents removed to Troy, N. Y. Here 
he attended school till 14 years old, when 
he entered a rolling mill and learned the 
trade of roll turner. In 1864 he went to 
Montreal, Canada, to assist in the erection 
of a rolling mill, remaining three years. In 
1868 he went to Newburg, a suburb of 
Cleveland, Ohio, and engaged as roll a turner, 
and was the the first man at Cleveland to 
make a Bessemer steel wire rod, which 
proved very successful ; but very great im- 
provements have since been made in the 
Cleveland mill, it having grown into the 
largest Bessemer steel wire works in Amer- 
ica. In the fall of 1869, he located at New 
Albany, Ind., and engaged as roll turner at 
the Ohio Falls Iron Works, where he still 
remains, adding to his other position that 
of attending the guide-rolling department. 
In 1884 he was an alternate delegate to 
the National Republican Convention at 
Chicago, and is at present a member of the 
Floyd County Republican Central Commit- 
tee. He is a member of the Amalgamated 
Association of Iron and Steel Workers, 
and also a Mason, Odd Fellow, and Knight 



106 



FLOYD COUNTY 



of Honor. From 1863 till 1866 be was a 
partner with his brother-in-law, Geo. E. 
Beard, in the agricultural implement and 
seed business. He was married in 1885 to 
Mrs. Hattie Maur, of Chicago, 111., but has 
no children. He is the son of Joseph 
Norton, a native of Bloomfield, England, 
who came to the United States when he 
was but ten years old, and was reared in 
New Jersey. The father is a rolling mill 
man, and has built a number of large and 
costly rolling mills in the United States 
and Canada. He is still living, hale and 
hearty, at the age of 64 years, at New 
Albany, Ind. 

OLLIE OWENS, born at Owensbnrg, 
Greene County, Ind., Oct. 19, 1852. He 
was reared until 17 years old at Owensburg 
(which town was named for his father), at- 
tending the common schools there. At 17 
he went to Mitchell, Ind., where he attend- 
ed the High School for two years. After 
leaving school he taught for two sessions, 
and then came to Floyd county, Ind., 
where he taught for three sessions. 

He spent his vacations in the drug-store 
of his brother-in-law, Isom Burton, at 
•Mitchell, in the study and practice of phar- 
macy. 

In 1S80 he engaged in the drug business 
for himself at No. 431 North Vincennes 
street, where he still carries on the business 
with the success that always follows intel- 
ligent enterprise and industrious application. 

On March 13, 1877, he was married to 
Miss Alice "White, daughter of Edward 
White, Sr., and they have four children — 
Estella, H. B., Marshall and Pearl. He 
is a Mason of the Boyal Arch Degree, 
a K. of P. and a member of the Baptist 
Church. In 1876 he was Deputy Marshal 
of Mitchell, Ind. His father, Lilburn 
Owens, is a native of Indiana and a 



farmer residing in Greene county, and is 
a blacksmith by trade. His mother, Eliza- 
beth Owens, was also a native of Indiana; 
she died in 1855, leaving six children — 
Juliette, Catherine, Marshall, Belle, Ollie 
and Howard. 

GEN. JASPER PACKARD, editor of the 
New Albany Tribune, was born in Maho- 
ning county, Ohio, Feb. 1, 1832. His 
parents were natives of Delaware. When 
he was three years of age his parents re- 
moved to Indiana, and settled in Marshall 
county on a farm, where he was brought 
up, and educated in the common schools, 
and at Oberlin College, Ohio, graduating 
from Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1855. He read 
law at Laporte, Ind., was admitted to the bar 
in 1859, and practiced until the war began. 

In 1861 he volunteered as a private in 
the 48th Indiana Infantry, and was pro- 
moted step by step until he became cap- 
tain of his company. In 1864 he was 
made lieutenant-colonel of the 12Sth In- 
fantry, and the next spring (1865) was made 
colonel of same, and at the close of the 
war was made brigadier-general for 
meritorious service during his long term. 

After the war he returned to Laporte and 
in 1866 was elected auditor of the county; 
in 186S he was elected to Congress, and 
again in 1870 and 1872. In 1874 he 
organized a new paper, The Laporte 
Chronicle which he published for four 
years, and then sold it because he had been 
appointed revenue agent, which he held 
for eight years. In 18S6 he started a daily 
paper, The Public Spirit. This he dis- 
continued and brought the material to New 
Albany, and in April 1SSS started the 
Tribune. 

He was married in 1855 to Miss Harriet 
S. Tibbits, of Michigan. They have three 
children. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



107 



JAMES S. PEAKE, in point of contin- 
uous service in the business, is the oldest 
dry goods merchant in New Albany, Ind. 
He is the son of John Peake and Abigail 
Smith, and was born at New Albany, Jan- 
uary 9, 1834, and, being left an orphan at 
nine years of age, was reared in New Al- 
bany by the late Judge Thomas L. Smith. 

His father was a native of Kentucky, 
his mother of New York ; they came to New 
Albany in 1833. He was educated in the 
New Albany schools. In 1852 he entered 
the store of W. N. Benton as clerk ; in 
1853 took a clerkship in Noyes & Clynes' 
store, remaining seven years ; in 1860 went 
to the dry goods house of E. M. Hubbert ; 
in 18(56 went to C. A. Eineking's store, re- 
maining until 1871, when he formed a 
partnership with John Baer, in dry goods, 
under the firm name of Peake & Baer. 

The firm continued eight years, doing a 
large business, when Mr. Baer purchased 
the stock. The same year (1879) Mr. Peake 
started in the dry goods business alone, and 
continues the business to this time at No. 48 
East Market street, where he has built up 
a large and valuable trade. This makes 
36 years of continuous service in the dry 
goods trade ; and it will be observed that Mr. 
Peake, as a clerk, was always in demand. 
This is a high compliment to his integrity 
as well as to his business tact and industry. 

In 1S62, Mr. Peake was married to Mary 
F. Pullen, daughter of Louis L. and Buth 
Elliott Pullen, her mother being the sister 
of the late Capt. B. L. Elliott, who com- 
manded the steamer A. L. Shotwell in her 
famous race with the steamer Eclipse, 
from New Orleans to Louisville. Two 
children have been born to them : Thomas 
H. and Buth A. 

Mr. Peake is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., 
and also of the Central Christian Church, 
and has been deacon in the church since 



its organization. He has been success- 
ful in business, and has won his suc- 
cess through sterling business qualities and 
integrity. 

GEOBGE F. PENN, born at Louisville, 
Ky., May 21, 1S47. His father, James C. 
Penn, was a native of Bedford county, Va., 
and his mother, Jane Floyd, a native of 
Kentucky. 

He is a self-made man. In 1862 he 
joined the Home Guards at Lynchburg, 
Va., and in the autumn of 1864 was at- 
tached to Nelson's Battalion of Kirkpat- 
rick's Battery of Amherst's Light Artillery 
of the Confederate service, and served in 
that capacity until the close of the war. 

Mr. Penn made his home in New Albany 
in 1866, his first employment being a 
clerkship in the glass works. 

In 1880 he was appointed superinten- 
dent of the window-glass and bottle depart- 
ments of the works, and in 1887 was pro- 
moted to superintendent of the plate-glass 
department of the works. 

He has been six times elected to the 
City Council of New Albany from the first • 
ward, serving twelve years, and at each 
election receiving a large majority of the 
votes of his ward. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity (being a Knight Tem- 
plar), of the 1. 0. 0. F., Knights of Pythias, 
A. 0. U. W., and Knights of Labor. Few 
men possess better business qualifications, 
and these he carries into the discharge of 
his official duties as a councilman. 

On December 28, 1870, he was married 
to Miss Mary F. Hart, daughter of Capt. 
William Hart, who served two terms as 
Mayor of New Albany, and was a promi- 
nent steamboatman, boat builder and citi- 
zen of New Albany. Five children have 
been born of Mr. Venn's marriage, one 
daughter and four sons. 



108 



FLOYD COUNTY 



Left fatherless at ten years and mother- 
less at twelve, Mr. Pemi has made his way 
in the world by individual effort and has 
risen to honorable positions by force of 
character in merit, in public spirit and per- 
sonal enterprise. 



LEVI L. PIERCE, a native of New- 
castle, Lawrence county, Penn., was born 
September 28, 1850, and is a son of David 
Pierce and Sarah Belle Pay, natives of 
Pennsylvania, who, when he was but six 
yearsold, died, leaving him an orphan. Mr. 
Pierce attended the common schools of his 
native county, and at the age of sixteen 
years took employment in the window-glass 
department of a glass works, remaining 
there until advanced to a blower. He 
came to New Albany in 1876 and took the 
position of blower with the New Albany 
Plate Glass, Window Glass and Bottle 
Works, and has been a resident of New 
Albany, and with the W. C. DePauw Com- 
pany ever since, now being superintendent 
of the window-glass and bottle departments 
of these works. He was married in De- 
cember, 1875, to Miss Belle Smith, of New- 
castle, Penn., who died November 14, 1884, 
leaving four children, two daughters and 
two sons, Nellie L., Emma, Harry M. 
and Ray. He is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and several other organizations ; 
also a member of the M. E. Church. He has 
has been solicited to run for Mayor of New 
Albany several times, but always declined 
to make the race. He has made himself 
what he is — emphatically a self-made 
man. 



CAPT JONATHAN PETERS was born 
in Orange county, Indiana, August 
22, 1833. His grandparents, Jonathan 



and Mary Peters, and Jonathan and Mary 
Tatum, the former natives of Kentucky, 
the latter natives of North Carolina, were 
early settlers of Indiana, coming to the 
State in 1814. 

His father, John R. Peters, was born in 
the blue grass regions of Kentucky, com- 
ing with his father to the State when but 
three years old. 

The grandfathers, Jonathan Peters and 
Jonathan Tatum, were farmers, as was 
also John R. Peters ; and Jonathan Peters, 
the subject of this sketch, was reared on a 
farm, receiving a common-school educa- 
tion. 

In 1863 he enlisted as a private in the 
One hundred and seventeenth Indiana In- 
fantry, under Col. Thos. J. Brady ; but be- 
fore leaving Indianapolis he was elected 
second lieutenant, and afterward appointed 
quartermaster by Col. Brady. The regi- 
ment returned and was mustered out in 
1864. In January, 1865, he recruited a 
company, and was commissioned captain, 
Co. F, 144th Indiana Infantry, in which 
he served until the close of the war, at 
which time he was A. A. A. General 
of Love's Brigade, Brooks' Division, 
Hancock's Corps, Army of the Shenan- 
doah. 

After being mustered out he came to 
New Albany, engaging as a traveling sales- 
man in the wholesale hat and boot and 
shoe trade until 1872, when he engaged in 
the newspaper business. 

He is now the principal owner and man- 
ager of the New Albany Daily and Weekly 
Ledger. 

In politics, Capt. Peters has always 
been a Democrat, taking a great interest 
in the organization and welfare of his 
party, fearless in its defense, but always 
ready to discountenance and condemn the 
mistakes of his party leaders. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



109 



FRANCIS W. PETERS, born June 6, 
1853, at Brownstown, Wayne county, Mich., 
educated in the common schools of his 
native county, and in 1872 went to Forks 
of Salt River, Ky. where he remained five 
months, and then located at New Albany, 
where he has since resided. 

He is the manager of the 1. F. Force 
Hickory Handle Works, one of the most ex- 
tensive of their kind in tbe West, and hav- 
ing many important business connections 
with other interests of its proprietor. 

Mr. Peters is a a man of practical experi- 
ence and of mechanical skill and good 
management. 

He is the son of JolmH. Peters and Eliza-' 
beth A. Chase, and his father was a pioneer 
of Michigan, walking to that State from 
the State of New York in 1836, when but 18 
years old, his birth occurring in 1818. He 
still lives at Brownstown, Micb., a very 
active man, doing as much work on the 
farm as any hand employed. 

Francis W. Peters and Mary E. Force, 
sister of Mr. I. F. Force, proprietor of the 
Hickory Handle Works, were married in 
1874 and have two boys : Clarence W. and 
Raymond F. He is a member of the 
Knights of Honor, being a charter member 
of tbe New Albany Lodge, No. 922. His 
mother died when he was but seven years 
old, leaving a husband and six children, one 
of whom, Charles 0., has since died. Of tbe 
survivors, Catherine N. married John C. 
VanRiper, and lives at Detroit, Mich., 
Clara A. married Myrarn Harryman, 
and resides at Duluth, Minn. : Jennie M. 
married L. M. Lovette, and resides at 
Oak Park, Chicago ; William H. is married, 
and lives at Michigan City, Ind. ; Francis 
W. married, and lives at New Albany, Ind. 
His father married a second time, bis last 
wife being Mrs. Caroline Metcalf, Browns- 
town, Mich., and by this union there are 



two children: John A. and Carrie J., both 
of whom are attending school. 



PAUL REISING is a native of Germauy, 
and was bom in 1819. He is a son of 
Frank and Mary (Lettinger) Reising, who 
came to America about 1850, and were 
plain honest German people. Paul, the 
subject, has been in the brewing business 
many years. 

He located in Louisville, Ky., in 1854, 
and, in partnership with Peter None, oper- 
ated the City Brewery two years, when the 
partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Reising 
removed to New Albany, where he has 
since resided. 

In 1858 he bought, at sheriff's sale, the 
brewery he now owns, and which he has 
ever since operated. It is one of the larg- 
est in the city, and has a cajmcity of about 
12,000 barrels annually. 

Mr. Reising was married in 1843 to Miss 
StockmiUer, native of Germany. They have 
two children. He is a zealous member of 
the Catholic Church. 



JOHN J. RICHARDS was born in New 
Albany, Ind., Sept. 3, 1842. His father, 
Peter Richards, a butcher by occupation, 
was a native of Lorraine, and came to 
America in 1832. 

His mother, Anna Huhlgrun, was a na- 
tive of Bavaria. 

Mr. Richards was reared in New Albany, 
and is a butcher, though he served an 
apprenticeship as a coppersmith. He 
served one term as a member of the New 
Albany City Council. 

He was elected Mayor of the City in 
18S3, was re-elected in 1885, and again 
re-elected in 1S87, and is now (1S8S) filling 
the office. In the responsible offices he 



110 



FLOYD COUNTY 



has been called to occupy by the votes of 
the people he has discharged his duties 
faithfully and well and has won great popu- 
larity. He is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, being a Knight Templar and a 
member of the German Benevolent Society. 
In 18(5-1 he was married to Elizabeth 
Eenn, a native of Floyd county, and a 
daughter of Joseph Benn, a native of Prus- 
sia and a pioneer of Floyd county. 



JOHN EUSSELL was born in New 
Albany, Ind.,. December 28, 1853, where 
he was reared. He was educated in the 
public Schools, being a diligent pupil. 
When but 13 years old he took employment 
in the Boiling Mill, working there at dif- 
ferent periods for fifteen years, during 
these years learning the trade of ship car- 
penter, which he followed for three years. 
He thus, by industry and natural aptitude 
in mechanical skill, acquired two good 
trades. 

In June, 1881, with John J. Lyons as a 
partner he engaged extensively in the hotel, 
livery and feed business, they taking charge 
of the West End Hotel, West Seventh and 
Main streets, New Albany. 

He is a man of great business energy and 
enterprise, and by these and his general 
popularity has financially prospered. 

He was married in November, 1S82, to 
Miss Ida Martin, of Fail-mount, Jefferson 
county, Kentucky, and three children, 
John G., Mary L. and EdnaC. have blessed 
the marriage. He is a member of the 
Catholic Knights of America. His parents 
are John Bussell and Mary Bussell (not re- 
lated before marriage, though both of the 
same name). Both are of County Cork, 
Ireland, and came to the United States in 
1850 and located at New Albany, where 
both now reside. 



CHABLES SACKETT was born in West- 
field, Mass., May 13, 1813, and with his 
father, a native of the same place, came to 
Indiana in 1825, the family locating at 
Corydon, Harrison county, where he 
learned the trade of a carpenter, afterward 
establishing himself in the business of con- 
tractor and builder, carrying on this busi- 
ness in Harrison county until 1844, when 
he removed to New Albany and carried on, 
very successfully, the same business until 
1875. 

Mr. Sackett served the people of Floyd 
county as county commissioner for about 
ten years. Afterward he was elected 
county auditor, serving in that position the 
full legal term, discharging all the public 
trusts confided to him with the strictest 
fidelity and to the satisfaction of the 
people. 

He was noted as a contractor and master 
builder. Among the noted public build- 
ings he erected are, the Floyd County 
Court House, the New Albany Opera 
House and Wesley M. E. Church. He was 
the architect and builder of many of the 
best business houses and residences in New 
Albany. He always was public spirited and 
identified himself with all the enterprises 
that have helped build up the city, particu- 
larly the manufacturing industries and 
railroads. He is the heaviest stockholder 
in the New Albany Forge and Boiling Mill 
and president of the company. 

In 1S37 he was united in marriage to 
Miss Josie Gresham, the daughter of 
George and Mary Gresham, in Harrison 
county, his wife being an aunt of Judge W. 
Q. Gresham of the U. S. Courts of Indiana, 
Illinois and Wisconsin. Mr. Sackett's 
marriage was blessed by thirteen children 
of whom ten survive: Ozen, George E», 
Belle M., Mary, Katie, Jennie, Alice, Will- 
iam, Frances and Ida May. Mr. Sackett's 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



Ill 



mother was Sallie Woods, of Groton,' near 
Boston, Mass., a woman of strong person- 
ality, and for a brief time bis parents re- 
sided in Boston, starting west from tbat 
city and crossing the Alleghanies in a 
wagon to Pittsburgh, where they remained 
for a time, then purchased a flatboat, in 
which they floated down the Ohio to the 
mouth of Harrod's creek, near Louisville, 
Ky., and thence to Corydon, Ind., where he 
purchased a farm, to which the family re- 
moved. After the death of his wife the 
father of Mrs. Sackett returned to his native 
town in Massachusetts, where he died in 
1858, at the age of 68. Associated with 
Mr. Sackett in the Steam Forge and Roll- 
ing Mill Company is his son. Mr. George 
E. Sackett, who is secretary and treasurer 
of the company. Mr. Sackett served sev- 
eral terms as a member of the New Albany 
City Council. 



CHARLES W. SCHINDLER, Recorder 

of Floyd county, is a native of New 
Albany, born Nov. 4, 1858. 

His father, Albert Schindler, a native of 
Germany, and a plasterer by trade, came 
to New Albany in 1848, and, after a useful 
and honorable life, died June 16, 1886. 
His mother, Mary Boersie, was also a na- 
tive of Germany. 

Mr. Schindler, after receiving a full 
course of instruction in the schools of New 
Albany, became a student at the Ohio State 
Normal School, at Lebanon, Ohio, from 
which he graduated in 1883. 

He learned the trade of plastering from 
his father, but became a successful teacher 
in the public schools of his native county, 
winning merited popularity by his devotion 
to his duties. 

In 1884 he was a candidate for the 
State Legislature and was defeated on a 



technicality before the Democratic Conven- 
tion of his county. 

In 1886 he was nominated by the Demo- 
cratic party, and elected County Recorder, 
the duties of which responsible ofiice he is 
discharging with fidelity to the interests of 
the people and with honor to himself. 

His wife was Miss Fannie M. Stolzer, 
daughter of William Stolzer. 



LEVI H. SCOTT, was born in Lafayette 
township, Floyd county, Ind., March 26, 
1856, and after attending the public schools 
he became a student at the Bedford Male and 
Female College, from which he graduated. 

He then took a full course at the North 
era Indiana Normal College, Valparaiso, 
from which he graduated in 1878. 

He immediately commenced teaching in 
the public schools of Floyd county, and in 
1881 was elected county superintendent of 
Public Schools. In 1883 he failed of re- 
election and resumed teaching at Scotts- 
ville, Floyd county. 

In June, 1885, he was again elected 
county superintendent, and re-elected in 
1887. In 1888, March 16, he received the 
Democratic nomination for treasurer of 
Floyd county, to which office he was elect- 
ed by a handsome majority Nov. 6, 1SSS. 

In 1879 he was married to Miss Hanna 
G. Scott, daughter of Wesley Scott, of 
Floyd county, Ind. 

He is the son of Jeremiah and Dorcas 
Wilson Scott, his father being a native of 
Floyd county and his mother of Clark 
county, Ind. His father was born in 1 S31 and 
was a prominent farmer of Floyd county ; he 
died May 28, 1886, leaving a wife and eleven 
children ; all are living except the eldest. 
They are Wesley (who died Dec. 24, 1886, 
being trustee of Lafayette township), Lev 



112 



FLOYD COUNTY 



H., Walter J., Angeline, Martha A., James 
H., William, Dorcas, May and Estella. 

Mr. Scott has three children : Orella, 
Maude, Berla and Daisy. 

He is an Odd Fellow and a meinher of 
the Christian Church. 



JAMES G. SHIELDS was horn in Floyd 
county, Ind., October 10, 1829, and is a 
son of Clement N. and Mary (Stewart) 
Shields. The former was a native of 
Barren county, Ky., and is a son of Patrick 
Shields, who came from Virginia to Indiana 
when the latter was a Territory. 

It is said that the first religious meeting 
held in the Territory was held in his house. 
Mary Stewart Shields was born in Barren 
county, Ky ., of a very strict Christian family. 

His father, after moving to this State, 
commenced merchandizing near New 
Albany in 1830, and 1832 moved into New 
Albany, where he continued to reside until 
his death. 

The grandmother of the subject was 
among the first white women in the State 
of Indiana, and his grandfather was a 
member of the Provisional Convention 
that got up the Territorial Constitution of 
government of the Indiana Territory. 

He was with Gen. Harrison at the battle 
of Tippecanoe, and was his warm personal 
friend, a Whig and a warm supporter of 
the General for the Presidency. 

James G., the subject of this sketch, is 
the eldest of two boys, and was reared in 
New Albany. He received a good practical 
education, and upon reaching manhood en- 
gaged in the retail dry goods business ; he 
was also interested at the same time in five 
Ohio river steamers, viz : "Huntress," 
"Star," "Burd Levi," "Cora S.," and "Ollie 
Sullivan." His last steamboat venture 
was in 1879 — "Steamer Shields." 



Prior to the war he was engaged in the 
jobbing business — from 1853 to 1860 — at 
New Albany, Indiana, and Keokuk, Iowa. 
He served the Government during the war, 
carrying provisions. 

Since the war he has been a traveling 
salesman in Arkansas, representing McCord 
& Aydelotte hat house in Louisville. Both 
members of this firm died in 1888, and 
since January 1, 1889, Capt. Shields has 
been in the employ of their successors, H. 
C. & C. I. Warren. 

In 1852 he was married to Miss Cora 
A. Snyder, of Salem, Ind. They have one 
daughter living out of four ; his son Harry 
died in 1879. 

He is a 33d degree Mason and a Past 
Eminent Commander of Knights Templar 
No. 5, New Albany, Ind. Mr. Shields is a 
man of intelligence, a business man of the 
best qualities, and a thorough gentleman. 



S. S. STALCUP was born in Valeene, 
Inch, in 1855, and is a son of John and Mar- 
tha (Riley) Stalcup. His grandfather, Sam- 
uel Riley,was a native of Virginia, and came 
to this State when a boy. He grew to 
manhood and became a thorough business 
man. He established a bell foundry, and 
later engaged in mercantile business. 
When the Mexican war broke out he vol- 
unteered and served twelve months. 

The subject of this sketch was educated 
in the public schools of New Albany, his 
family having removed to this place when 
he was but six years old. He worked for 
a time in the brick business, and in any- 
thing else that would support him. In 
1875, he went into partnership with Geo. 
Hopkins, of Louisville, Ky., in the mercan- 
tile business, which he continued for two 
years. 

He was married in 1880 to Miss Ida 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



113 



Samuel, of Louisville. They have three 
children — Carrie, Horace and Samuel S. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, 
of the I. 0. 0. F., K. of P. and of the 
Republican party. 



JACOB B. STARR, born in Bym- 
ville, Harrison county, Ind.,June 16, 1847, 
but located at Georgetown, Floyd county, 
Ind., with his parents, at the age of ten 
years. 

He was educated at the common schools 
and then took an elective course in Harts- 
ville University, completing his work in 
this institution in 1869. 

He then taught school in the county 
for nine years, when, in 1878, he was 
elected principal of West Spring Street 
School, New Albany, Ind., and removed 
to that city. 

He continued seven years as principal 
of this school, when, in 1885, he was 
elected superintendent of the public 
schools of New Albany, and is now serving 
his fourth term in that honorable and re- 
sponsible position. 

In 1876 and 1877 he was trustee of 
Georgetown township, Floyd county, Ind. 

He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F. and 
of the Christian Church. 

In 1872 he was married to Miss Mary 
J. Lidikay, of Floyd county, and three chil- 
dren have blessed the marriage — Her D., 
Oscar E. and Hattie M. 

He is a son of David B. and Alary Ar- 
genbright Starr, both natives of Harrison 
county, Ind. His father served three years 
in the army, which broke down his health, 
and from the effects of which he died at 
his home in New Albany in December, 
1887. His mother is a resident of New 
Albany. He has two brothers living — W. 
L. Starr, a practicing physician and 



county coroner, and Huon J. Starr, mill- 
wright, New Albany. 



PETER R. STOY, general manager, 
vice-president and treasurer of the Ohio 
Falls Iron Works. There are few men in 
Indiana who have attained more local 
prominence, socially and financially than 
the subject of this sketch. His history is 
much like that of others, who, by their 
own efforts have attained competence and 
position and yet wore the stamp of indi- 
viduality. Commencing with no capital 
but an unblemished character, he has, by 
honesty and fair dealing, become known as 
one of Indiana's successful business men. 

He was born February 25, 1825, in the 
village of New Albany. 

His father, Peter Stoy, was a ship cabin 
builder, who was born and reared in Phila- 
delphia, Pa. His mother, Mary E. (Wicks) 
Stoy, was a native of Erie in the same 
State. Peter Stoy, Sr., came to New 
Albany in 1818. Mr. Stoy attended school 
in his native village until he was fifteen 
years of age. He entered the hardware 
store of Charles Woodruff, January 1, 
1841, and continued in this and the dry 
goods business as clerk until 1846. At this 
time the death of his father occurred, and 
he took charge of the estate which was 
badly embarrassed. He succeeded in set- 
tling all liabilities and saved a competence 
for his mother. In the spring 1847 he 
took the position of clerk on the Ohio River 
Steamer "Atlantis," but left this employ- 
ment after one season, as the influence and 
early training of a pious father and mother 
made the wild and boisterous life ,of the 
steamer repugnant to him. He then en- 
gaged in the hardware trade in the store of 
his former employer — who had died in the 
meantime — accepting a share in the pros- 



114 



FLOYD COUNTY 



spective profits of the business in lieu of 
salary. Here he remained until 1851 
when he went into business on his own 
account. Purchasing his stock on an 
Eastern market, at first hand, he was 
enabled to offer as good inducements to 
the trade as older houses and became very 
successful. He has made numerous friends, 
and has passed through two severe finan- 
cial crises with his credit unquestioned. 

In 1866, with several others, he organ- 
ized the Ohio Falls Iron Works. In 
1873, after the great financial panic, he 
was elected vice-president of the company 
and in January, 1S76, he was chosen vice- 
president, treasurer and general manager 
which position he now holds. He also 
continues his hardware business at the old 
stand, in which he is ably assisted by his 
two sons, Lewis R. Stoy and Raymond P. 
Mr. Stoy has been a member of the City 
Council the greater part of the time since 
1850, and was elected by a large majority 
to the important office of commissioner of 
Floyd county. He is not now and never 
has been a politician. His political prin- 
ciples are Republican, but he was elected 
to office by the aid of Democratic voters 
in a county which gives a large Democratic 
majority. 

In 1850 he married Miss Ellen Beeler, 
of New Albany, Ind., daughter of William 
and Elizabeth Beeler, and is a member of 
one of the best families of Floyd county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stoy have been honored 
members of the M. E. Church since 1S43. 
Socially and financially Mr. Stoy stands 
among the most highly respected and in- 
fluential citizens of New Albany. 



GEORGE J. STROBEL was born at 
New Albany, Ind., April 26, 1861. His 



parents, Simon Strobel and Julia Wink- 
ler, were natives of Germany, , com- 
ing to America in 1855, and locating at 
New Albany, where his father engaged in 
the leatber business, which he continued 
until his death in 1881, at the age of 49, 
leaving a wife and five children; they are 
all living. They are George J., John L., 
Josephine, Carrie and Katie. 

George J. Strobel was reared in New 
Albany and educated in the public schools, 
graduating from the New Albany Commer- 
cial College. After his graduation he 
engaged in the jewelry business at Cincin- 
nati, but in 1883 returned to New Albany 
and entered the queensware business, 
which he continued until 1887, when he 
sold out and turned his entire attention to 
the wholesale leather and shoe finding 
business, which he had controlled while in 
the queensware trade. His place of busi- 
ness is at No. 8 East Market street. 

He is a member of the German Benev- 
olent Society and of the Catholic Church, 
and a man highly esteemed in business 
and social circles. His father was also a 
member of the Catholic Church, a business 
man of enterprise and a highly respected 
citizen. 



SHELBY SUMMERS was born in Floyd 
county, Ind., December 5, 1845, and is a 
son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Utz) Sum- 
mers ; the former was born in Virginia, 
May 2, 1817, and came to Indiana with 
"his parents when but a year old ; his wife, 
Elizabeth Utz, was born in Indiana, and 
is a daughter of Conrad and Elizabeth 
(Baker) Utz, both of whom were born in 
Rockingham county, Va. ; the former in 
1784 and the latter in 1790. The subject 
of this sketch, Shelby Summers, was 
brought up on a farm and educated in 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



li- 



the common schools. He was married, at 
the age of twenty-five, to Miss Henrietta 
Welch, a daughter of William and Eliza- 
beth (Russell) Welch, natives of this State. 
Mr. and Mrs. Summers have three chil- 
dren, viz : William 0., Joseph V., and 
Elizabeth E. Mr. Summers owns sixty 
acres of highly improved land. He is an 
enterprising and prosperous farmer. He 
was elected township trustee of George- 
town township at the last election (18SS) 
on the Democratic ticket. 



JOHN H. THOMAS was born in Floyd 
county, Ind., February 9, 1828, and is a 
son of Thomas and Mary (Martin) Thomas, 
the former a native of North Carolina, 
where he was born in 1807. His ances- 
tors, he affirmed, came over in the May- 
flower, making the Thomas family one of 
the oldest in the country. They event- 
ually settled in Maryland, and from thence 
went to North Carolina, and came to this 
State many years ago. The latter, Mary 
(Martin) Thomas, was born in 1807, and 
was a daughter of Thomas Martin, who 
was a soldier under Gen. Harrison in his 
Indian campaign of 1811, and was with 
him in the battle of Tippecanoe. He 
came originally from North Carolina. 

John H., the subject of this sketch, was 
raised principally in Harrison county, and 
educated in the common schools — some of 
them very common — being of the log cabin, 
puncheon floor, stick chimney kind, com- 
mon a half century ago. After reaching 
maturity, and having obtained a fair edu- 
cation, he commenced teaching, and fol- 
lowed it through the winter seasons from 
1849 to 1864, occasionally teaching a 
summer term also. He then engaged in 
mercantile business in Georgetown, hav- 



ing moved to this county, which he has 
since followed with good success. 

Mr. Thomas was married in 1854, to 
Miss Lavinia Zimmerman ; both of her 
parents were of German origin, and emi- 
grated to America in an early day, and 
settled in Maryland, thence to Virginia, 
and thence to Indiana, when in woods. 
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have no children — 
he, however, takes an active interest 
in educational matters. Mr. Thomas was 
elected clerk of Georgetown township, 
assessor for four years, and after serving 
a term was elected school trustee, which 
office he held for two or three terms ; he 
is at present one of the trustees of the 
town. 

He is a member of the United Brethren 
Church. 



LOUIS VERNIA, born in Floyd county, 
Ind., June 9, 1S36, is a son of Peter and 
Susannah Piers Vernia. 

His father was a native of France, but 
came to the United States when only 15 
years old, engaging, after his maturity, in 
the mercantile business, and being a heavy 
purchaser and shipper of produce to New 
Orleans and other Southern markets, con- 
tinuing this business most of his life, and 
dying in 1881, at the age of 73 years. 

Mr. Vemia's mother was a native of 
Ireland, coming to America at the age of 
five years. 

Louis Vernia, the subject of this sketch, 
received only 'a common-school education. 
In 1857 he commenced business as a re- 
tail grocer in New Albany, continuing for 
four years. He then changed his business 
to a dealer in feed and grain and whole- 
sale and retail groceries, his establish- 
ment being on Spring street and very 
large, and his business very extensive. 
In 1887 he began to wind up his large 



116 



FLOYD COUNTY 



business, but is yet engaged in the grocery 
trade. 

Mr. Vernia is a member of the 
Holy Trinity Catholic Church, and presi- 
dent of the prosperous Total Abstinence 
Temperance Society of that church. He 
has served several terms as a member of 
the New Albany Council, and was a reli- 
able and wise member of that body. 

He was married in 1868 to Mary E. 
Doherty, a native of Floyd county, Ind., 
and ten children have been born to 
the marriage : Mary, Anna, Susannah, 
Thomas, Louis, Edward, Paul, Martin, 
Roger and Herman. 



FERDINAND GRAHAM WALKER is 
an artist of no mean pretentions. He was 
born at Mitchell, Lawrence county, Ind., 
February 16, 1859, and is the second son 
of Rev. Francis and Mary Graham Walker, 
natives of Ohio and Indiana respect- 
ively. His father is a Methodist preacher, 
and a member of the Indiana Conference, 
with which he has been connected for thir- 
ty-one years. 

Early in life Mr. Walker manifested the 
taste for art, which he has since cultivated 
with such marked success. At ten years 
of age he loved to draw, and in such exer- 
cises at school excelled all his young fel- 
low pupils with ease. 

At the age of fifteen he entered the Art 
Department of DePauw College, where he 
remained some time. During this period 
he also received instruction and criticisms 
from Gen. S. W. Price, at that time a prom- 
inent artist of Louisville, Ky. Mr.Walker's 
success during these days marked the 
beginning of his true devotion to painting. 

Having made art his chosen study and 
vocation, October of 1885 found our gifted 
young painter a student in the famous art 



schools of Paris, France. Here at the 
Ecole de Beaux Arts and the Academie 
Colarossi, under the direct influence and 
guidance of the masters in Art, he enjoyed 
the highest advantages the world can af- 
ford a student for perfecting himself in 
the law and technic of fine art. 

His successes in the Paris schools were 
even more flattering than those of previous 
years. At the Academie Colarossi, after 
having been abroad but four months, Mr. 
Walker ranked third in the concours in a 
class of pupils some of whom had studied 
in the French schools eight years. 

Returning to the United States in No- 
vember of 1886, Mr. Walker re-established 
himself in New Albany in the studio which 
he had opened prior to going abroad. 
Since returning he has given his time ex- 
clusively to palette, brush, and canvas, 
with that devotion to be seen only in the 
true artist. 

He married Miss Mary Watkin, an ac- 
complished lady of New Albany, whose 
congenial tastes and sympathies finely 
harmonize with her husband's artistic in- 
clinations. 

Thus far Mr. Walker has given largely 
of his time to portrait painting. But, 
though only turning thirty, he has done a 
great deal of fine work in other fields as 
well. He is an artist of high rank, and 
his genius is rapidly winning him a brill- 
iant reputation. 



HENRY WATKEYS, a prominent in- 
ventor of New Albany, and master mechan- 
ic of the L., N. A. & C. shops, was born 
in the Dominion of Canada in 1829. His 
parents, Henry and Susan Watkeys (nee 
Potter) were both Canadians by birth ; his 
father was a mechanic by trade. The sub- 
ject of this sketch, after receiving only the 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



117 



advantages of a common-school education, 
learned the trade under the tutelage of his 
father. In 1S79 he invented a movable 
valve seat for locomotives, and in 1880 
he invented a throttle valve, which was 
adopted by the principal railroad systems 
of New York State, and at once linked his 
name among the other great inventors of 
the country. Among other things Mr. 
Watkeys has invented, and those which 
have proved successful as inventions, are 
thcs car axle with independent wheel, 
breech loading shotgun, water valve for 
hydrant purposes, etc. His wife was a 
Miss Serviah T. Coleman, of Massachusetts, 
to whom he was married in 1850, and 
have eight children — Henry, who is engin- 
eer and master mechanic; Luther C, clerk 
in L., N. A. & C. office; Frederick D., 
mechanic and draftsman; Frank B., ma- 
chinist ; the younger ones are Charles W., 
Gertrude, Mabel and Marion. Mr. Wat- 
keys is an ardent Republican, and is a 
successful business man as well as a suc- 
cessful inventor. 



JOHN R. WEATHEES, teacher, New 
Albany, Ind., was born at Marengo, Craw- 
ford county, Ind., March 12, 1847. He is 
a member of one of the oldest and most 
prominent families of his native county. 

His father, Capt. Enoch Weathers, a 
leading farmer of his day, was also a na- 
tive of Crawford county, and during his 
life held important local offices, and for 
many years held the rank of captain in 
State Militia. 

Capt. Weathers' father, Richard, a Ten- 
nesseean by birth, came to Crawford county, 
and settled there about 1810. Richard 
Weathers followed the pursuit of farming, 
and for many years he was a member of 
third division of Uaited States Militia. 



John R. Weathers, the subject of this 
sketch, received his primary education in 
the common schools, and subsecpiently 
entered the State University at Blooming- 
ton, Ind. 

In 1870, he began life as a teacher in 
Marengo Academy, and continued as such 
in that institution until 1873, when he 
came to New Albany, and in the same 
year took charge of the Main street ward 
school, and held this position for six 
years. 

In 1879 he removed to Little Rock, Ark., 
and became editor-in chief of the Little 
Rock Chronicle and Arkansas School 
Journal. There he remained for one year. 
Returning to New Albany, he superintended 
the East Spring street school for one year, 
going thence to Canuelton, Ind., and was 
for five years superintendent of the public 
schools of that city. 

He again returned to New Albany, and 
was elected principal of the East Spring 
street school, the position he now fills so 
acceptably to the patrons of the school. 

Mr. Weathers' wife was a Miss Zibbie 
Anderson, of Bloomington, Ind., to whom 
he was married in 1870. Two children, 
Daisy M. and Nellie G. 

John R. Weathers is a member of the 
Christian Church, a Mason, member of the 
G. A. R. Order and Sigma Chi frater- 
nity, and is one of the leading and best 
known educators in Southern Indiana. 



MERRILL A. WEIR, who was born at 
Salem, Washington county, Ind., is an 
illustration of what well directed, honest 
business effort may accomplish. 

His father, David T. Weir, was born in 
Shelby county, Ky., and his mother, Ann 
Eliza Townsend, in Bourbon county, Ky., 



118 



FLOYD COUNTY 



and were married in Clark county, Ind., 
December 31, 1826. 

Merrill A. Weir was attending the pub- 
lic scbools at Salem when his father died, 
leaving a wife and five children, and com- 
pelling him, in order to aid in their sup- 
port, to leave school. By working at fifty 
cents per day and $S.OO per month, he 
assisted his mother in educating and pro- 
viding for the rest of the children, being 
the main support of the family. 

At 22 years, having accumulated some 
money, he was married to Miss Nancy A. 
Bliss, daughter of Leonard Bliss, a promi- 
nent farmer of Washington county. He 
then engaged for three years in the drug 
business at Salem, and then commenced 
rlatboating and speculating in produce. 
This laid the foundation of his fortune. 

He left the river when the war broke 
out, and located at Mt. Vernon, Ind., 
where he entered largely into speculation 
in produce, pork and wheat — at one time, 
with two others, having $250,000 invested 
in pork and wheat. 

At the close of the war be was one of a 
party of cajutalists that organized the First 
National Bank of Mt. Vernon, Ind. ; was 
an officer and director in the bank for seven 
years, resigning in 1871, and removing to 
New Albany, where for two years he oper- 
ated in pork. 

In 1874 he helped to organize the Sec- 
ond National Bank of New Albany, of 
which he was elected director and cashier, ■ 
serving as such until January, 1883, and 
then elected vice president. 

In October, 1884, he resigned, intend- 
ing to quit business, but was called, in De- 
cember, 1884, to take charge of the New 
Albany National Bank as cashier, the for- 
mer officer having resigned. Mr. Weir 
still remains in this position. 

He started out in the world without a 



dollar, as the main support of his father's 
family, which he continued until they were 
all grown, and bought the old homestead 
of the heirs, built a good house on it, and 
gave it to his mother for a home during 
her life. At her death, not being willing 
that it should pass into the hands of stran- 
gers, he gave it to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, for a parsonage, on the sole con- 
dition that the trustees of the church* 
were to keep the graves of his parents in 
good condition after his death. This prop- 
erty cost him $3,500. 

He never had any children of his own, 
but assisted in the rearing and education 
of several. He never had a note to go to 
protest, and could always, within twenty- 
four hours' notice, pay all he owed. 
While residing at Mt. Vernon, he deposited 
$10,000 in E. R. James' Bank, just before 
it failed, this being all the money he had. 
Two years later he got eighty cents on the 
dollar; yet when he thought he had lost 
all this money, he was not discouraged, 
but pushed ahead with energy, and dur- 
ing the two years he had to lay out of its 
use, made $30,000. 

Mr. Weir and his wife have always been 
kind to and helped the poor. Both are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Mr. Weir is also a member of 
the Masonic fraternity, and a Knight 
Templar of that ancient and honorable 
order. 



SAMUEL M. WEIR is a descendant of 
an old Virginia family, who emigrated to 
Kentucky in pioneer times. He was born 
in New Albany, January 9, 1846, and is 
a son of William M. and Cassandra (Rob- 
ertson) Weir, natives of Shelby county, 
Ky., but who removed to Clark county, 
when Indiana was still a territory. He 
(William M.) located in New Albany in 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



119 



1826, and was a cabinet-maker and under- 
taker by trade. He was a man of consid- 
erable local prominence, and served as 
mayor of tbe city in 184G and 1847; and 
also city treasurer for 1856, and was a 
strong Whig in politics. He died in 1 S62. 
Middleton Robertson, tbe maternal grand- 
father of the subject, was a native of 
Maryland, and removed to the Indiana 
Territory about 1795-98. 

Samuel M., tbe subject of this sketch, 
was educated in the public schools and in 
Towsley's private school. Most of his 
life has been spent in the public service. 
He commenced as clerk of the City Court, 
which he continued for six years ; then 
was deputy city treasurer for eight years, 
and bas now been city treasurer for four- 
teen years in succession. He is a most 
excellent and accommodating public of- 
ficer, an honest man, and a worthy citi- 
zen. In IS 74 he married Miss Anna S. 
Humphreys, a daughter of Captain Hum- 
phreys, of New Albany, a prominent steam- 
boat builder, and one of the early citizens 
of the county. 



JAMES E. WILSON was born in Cory- 
don, Harrison county, Ind., July 16, 1830, 
and is a son of George P. R. and Sarah 
(Spencer) Wilson, the former a native of 
Kentucky, and bom in Bardstown in 1802. 
After his birth his parents moved to Louis- 
ville, where they remained until 1820, 
when they moved to Corydon, Ind. 

George P. R. was a man of considerable 
prominence, and among the leading 
statesmen of that day. He was elected 
to fifteen or sixteen terms in the State 
Legislature, and one term State Senator, 
and for twenty years took as active a 
part in politics as any man in Harrison 
county. He was considered one of the 



finest orators in Southern Indiana. He 
was liberal in his views, earnest in his 
convictions, and delighted in the com- 
pany and associations of old friends, with 
whom he could enjoy himself to the fullest 
degree. He was fond of hunting and 
fishing, and was considered one of the best 
rifle shots ofhis time. His father, Joshua 
Wilson, was a Virginian by birth, but of 
Irish descent. 

Sarah Spencer, the mother of our 
subject, belongs to one of the most promi- 
nent families of Harrison county. She was 
the youngest daughter of Capt. Spear Spen- 
cer, a native of Nelson county, Ky., who was 
captain of a company and participated in 
the battle of Tippecanoe, and was killed 
on the field. Sbe was born in Vincennes, 
January 13, 1S09, and the same year her 
parents moved to Corydon, where she was 
brought up and lived all her life, dying 
there July 13, 1885. Her mother was 
Elizabeth Polk, of Nelson county, Ky., 
daughter of Capt. Charles Polk. 

James, the subject of this sketch, was 
reared principally on a farm — that known 
as the old Harrison farm, situated seven 
miles west of Corydon, on Blue river, and 
once owned by Gen. William Harrison, 
grandfather of President Harrison. He 
remained on the farm until he was about 
twenty-two years of age, but was educated 
mostly in Corydon. 

He was married in 1852, to Mary J. 
Davis, a native of this county, and born 
about eight miles northeast of Corydon. 
They have seven children, all of whom 
there are dead but two. 



GEORGE W. WOLF was born in Har- 
rison county, April 13, 1835, and is a son 
of David and Mary (Utz) Wolf, the former 
born in Kentucky and the latter in Vir- 



120 



FLOYD COUNTY 



ginia. The elder Wolf came to Harrison 
county in 1811 where he lived a number 
of years and then removed to Floyd 
county. He died at the age of eighty 
years. His father, George Wolf, was 
among the earliest settlers of Kentucky, 
and was a Pennsylvanian by birth and a Ger- 
man by descent. The maternal grandfather 
of subject, Adam Utz, was also of Ger- 
man origin, and removed to Indiana from 
Tennessee in 1812. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
on a farm in Harrison county until eight 
years of age, when he removed with his 
parents to Floyd county. He received a 
common school education, and at the age 
of twenty-six years, was married to Miss 
Sarah A. Merriwether, a daughter of James 
P. Meriwether, came from Kentucky, and 
was among the first settlers of Indiana. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have never had any 
children, but they have partly raised three 
children. In the latter part of 1862 the 
subject enlisted in Eighty-first Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, Co. I, and served 
faithfully until the close of the war, but 
during the time was transferred to the 
Seventh Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps. 
He was honorably discharged June 30, 
1865, and returned home. He has since 
devoted his time and energies to farming 
and stock raising, in which he has been 
entirely successful. He has a farm of 200 
acres of excellent land, well improved and 
in a high state of cultivation. He is one 
of Floyd county's energetic and influential 
farmers, and stands deservedly high among 
his neighbors. 

CHARLES WOLF was born September 
26, 1849, in Floyd county, Ind., and is a 
&on of David and Mary (Utz) Wolf, the 
former was one of the earliest settlers in 



Harrison county, Ind., but a native of Ken- 
tucky, born in 1805. His father, George 
Wolf, was one of the pioneers of the "Dark 
and Bloody Ground," and was of German 
descent ; the latter, Mary Utz, was born in 
Tennessee, her father emigrated to Indiana 
about 1812, and spent the remainder of 
his life there. 

Charles, the subject of this sketch, was 
brought up on the farm and received the 
benefit of a common-school education. 
He followed farm life for a number of 
years, and then engaged in the saw-milling 
business, which he still follows. He owns 
the Wolf Hotel in Georgetown, of which he 
is proprietor, and, also owns a number of 
town lots in Georgetown, and eighteen 
acres of highly improved land near the 
town. By careful management, economy 
and industry he has accumulated some 
property, and is so situated as to live com- 
fortably and independently. 

In 1871 Mr. Wolf was married to Miss 
Lavina Crandle, born in Floyd county, and 
a daughter of T. Crandle, born in Har- 
rison county ; his father was a native of 
Virginia, and a blacksmith. He made the 
first threshing machine used in Harrison 
county, and which was rather a unique 
affair compared with the perfect machines 
of the present day. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have had seven 
children, viz : Ada M., born April 1, 1874 ; 
Ora A., born August 23, 1876; Marj M., 
born June 1, 1878; Zella (deceased), born 
January 22, 1881; Noble E. (deceased), 
born March 1, 1882; Lottie 0., born Juno 
3, 1884, and Beulah, born August 17, 
1887. 

Mr. Wolf is a man of prominence in his 
community, and has been School Trustee 
in Georgetown some six years, and has 
served as president of the board. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



121 



FEEDERICK WUNDERLICH, a native 
of Germauy, was born October 30, 1830, 
and in 1848 came to the United States and 
located at Memphis, Tenn., remaining 
there one year. During this time he trav- 
eled through Tennessee and Mississippi, 
selling notions to the slaves. From Mem- 
phis he went to St. Louis, remaining there 
but a short time and coming thence to New 
Albany in 1850. 

He remained in New Albany but a short 
time, going to Louisville, Ky., where, in 
1852, he engaged in the manufacture of 
boots and shoes and clothing, continuing 
in the business until 1864, when he pur- 
chased a large shoe manufactory in New 
Albany, and carried on the business for 
two years. 

In 1866 he engaged in the wholesale 
grocery business, which he sold out in 
1867, and entered the live stock trade, 
buying and shipping to New Orleans. In 
1869 he entered the feed, grain and com- 
mission business, and in 1873 added the 



wholesale liquor business, in which he is 
still engaged, doing the largest business in 
his line done in New Albany. 

Mr. Wunderlieh is a self-made man; he 
has built up his large business and a sub- 
stantial fortune by his untiring energy, un- 
swerving integrity and commercial aptitude. 

He is a prominent Mason, which order he 
joined in Louisville in 1855, and has filled 
every position in the Blue Lodge, he is also 
a member of the Scottish Rite in Masonry, 
of the Knights of Honor and of the Ancient 
Order of Workmen. 

He is a member of the City Council of 
New Albany from the Second Ward. He 
was married at Louisville, Ky., in April, 
1853, to Miss Matilda Molloy, a native of 
Ireland, who came to the United Stetes in 
1849. Two children, Mary and Christina, 
have blessed the union. Mary is the wife 
of Louis Michel, who was in business with 
Mr. Wunderlieh. 

Louis Michel's death occurred in Feb- 
ruary, 1889. 




HARRISON COUNTY. 



ALLEN ALLISON, Harrison county, 
cooper, a private in the late Civil War, was 
born in Boone township, Harrison county, 
April, 1844. 

His parents were Asa and Rebecca 
(Mason) Allison, and were consistent 
members of the Christian Church. His 
father was born in Bullitt county, Ky. , 
in 1780, as was also his mother in I7l>8. 
Mother's death occurred July 1, 1888. 
His father early settled in the county, and 
was a cooper by trade. 

Allen Allison volunteered in the 144th 
Indiana Regiment of Volunteer Infantry 
in February, 1863, and was honorably dis- 
charged at Indianapolis in July, 1865 ; at 
the close of the war he returned to his 
home, and has since followed his trade. 



JOHN ANSHUTZ was born in Saxony, 
Germany, April 5, 1830, and is a son of 
Henry and Margaret Anshutz, who came 
to the United States and located in Ken- 
tucky. The former died in Harrison 
county, Ind., in 1876 ; the latter still sur- 
vives, a hearty and hale old lady. 

John, the subject of this sketch was 
brought up in Louisville, and when the war 
broke out he enlisted Co. D, Twenty- eighth 
Ohio Infantry, in which he served for three 



years, being mustered out June 13, 1864, 
and returned to Louisville, his former 
home. His service was long and severe. 
He took part in all the engagements and 
marches and hardships of this regiment. 

After he left the army he married Miss 
Dora Sipp, November 1, 1864. She was 
the daughter of Conrad Sipp, a native of 
Germany. Mr. Anshutz, after several re- 
movals, located near Buena Vista, in this 
county, on a farm of 160 acres, which he 
purchased and has highly improved. 

Mr. and Mrs. Anshutz have two children, 
viz : Maggie, born July 27, 1865, and Anele 
born June 27, 1867. Mr. Anshutz stands 
well among his neighbors, and is an 
excellent citizen. 



JOHN ARNOLD was born in Alleghany 
county, Pa., in September, 1848, and is 
the son of George and Amelia (Philbert) 
Arnold, the former born in Hamburg, Ger- 
many, came to America in 1846, and located 
in Pennsylvania. He married Miss Amelia 
Philbert soon after his arrival at Beaver, 
Pa., a sister to Col. Philbert of the famous 
Illinois Zouaves. George Arnold enlisted 
in September, 1861, and was captain of 
Co. I, Fifth Pennsylvania Artillery, com- 
manded by George S. Gallop. Capt. 



124 



HARRISON COUNTY 



Arnold was discharged from the army on 
account of physical disability. John 
Arnold, the subject of this sketch, imbued 
with the martial spirit of his father, and, 
taking advantage of his absence, entered 
the army when but thirteen years old as a 
drummer boy. Capt. Arnold, hearing of 
his son's escapade, exercised his parental 
authority, and had him discharged, but 
Young America was not to be subdued. 
He entered the service as a page-boy to 
Gen. Meade and to make himself useful 
in any capacity about the general's head- 
quarters. He remained there nearly a 
year, when he enlisted, and was engaged 
in the same capacity with Gen. Phil Sher- 
idan as he had been with Gen. Meade, and 
was believed to be the youngest enlisted 
soldier from Pennsylvania. While in the 
service, he participated in the following en- 
gagements : Winchester, Piedmont, White 
Plains, Eectortown, Beach Bottom, etc., 
also in the raid through the Shenandoah 
Valley. He was discharged from the ser- 
vice June 25, 1865, and returned to his 
home in Pennsylvania. Having learned 
the trade of a cooper, he resumed that 
business and followed it, until 1869, when 
he came to Indiana, settling in Lawrence 
county. June 24, 1876, he was married 
to Miss Cecelia Anderson. This union re- 
sulted in two children, John B., and Mary. 
His wife died August 12, 1884. He moved 
to Clay county, 111., soon after his mar- 
riage, and when his wife died he returned 
to Indiana, settling in Elizabeth, Harri- 
son county. He is a prominent business 
man, and an honorable and repectable 
citizen. 



JOHN M. BAELZ, Recorder of Harrison 
county, was born in the town of Breiten- 
stein, county of Boeblingen, Wurtemburg, 



Germany, December 1, 1844, and is a son 
of John M. and Magdalena (Schlecht) 
Baelz. 

He was reared on a farm in Germany, 
and remaiued there until he was twenty- 
one years old, when he came to America in 
1866, and eventually made his way to Louis- 
ville ; here he learned the baker's trade, 
remaining in Louisville and working at 
the trade for three years, when he removed 
to Corydon, and in 1870 opened a bakery, 
following the business until 1875, when he 
engaged in farming. 

He followed agriculture until 1886, when 
he was elected Recorder, which office he 
still holds. Previous to his election to 
the office of Recorder, he had held the office 
of trustee for Scott township for four years, 
the duties of which he faithfully discharged. 
He is a faithful and vigilant officer, and 
attends strictly to his official duties. 

He was married in 1870 to Miss Eliza- 
beth Netz, a daughter of John Netz, of 
Harrison county. They have eight chil- 
dren, five sons and three daughters. 

Mr. Baelz owns one farm in Scott town- 
ship, Harrison county, where he now re- 
sides. 

He is a zealous member of the fraternity 
of Odd Fellows. 



JOHN E. BARGER was born in Harri- 
son county, Ind., January 21, 1838, and 
is a son of Henry and Delilah (Abell) Bar- 
ger, the former a native of Harrison coun- 
ty, and a son of Philip Barger, who was 
born in Virginia. The latter, Delilah 
Abell, was a daughter of Ignatius and 
Catherine Abell. Ignatius Abell was a 
soldier in the War of 1812, and partici- 
pated in the battle of New Orleans. 

John E., the subject, was the third in a 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



125 



family of eight children. He was reared 
on his father's farm, and educated in the 
common schools of the time. He enlisted 
in October, 1861, in Co. C, Fiftieth 
Regiment, serving gallantly until Decem- 
ber 5, 1863, when he was discharged on 
account of disability, being reduced from 
a strong man, weighing 165 pounds, to a 
skeleton of ninety pounds. He has par- 
tially recovered, but is not the man he 
was before entering service. 

He was married March 19, 1865, to 
Miss Mary I. Moss, a daughter of Benja- 
min L. and Mellison Moss. She was 
born in Louisiana, November 27, 1840. 
Mr. and Mrs. Barger have seven children, 
born as follows: James W., March 10, 
1866; Mary D., September 10, 1867; 
Henry H, August 26, 1869; Nancy M., 
March 5, 1872; Benjamin W., December 
3, 1873; Philip T., September 10, 1876, 
and Martha B., June 14, 1880. 

Since the war he has devoted his time 
and attention to farming, and owns a good 
farm of 120 acres, highly improved and 
in afine state of cultivation. 



REUBEN BARTLEY was born in But- 
ler county, Pa., September 7, 1832, and 
is of Scotch-Irish parentage. He was born 
on a farm, where he remained until he was 
eighteen years of age, receiving but a lim- 
ited education in the public schools. He 
then went to Alleghany City, and became 
an apprentice to the trade of a plumber. 
After completing his apprenticeship he 
served for a time as a steamboat clerk 
between Pittsburgh and Louisville, but dis- 
liking the river he quit it and engaged at 
his trade in a plumbing establishment in 
Louisville as foreman. In April, 1855, he 



was married to Miss Elizabeth Rush, of 
Alleghany City, Pa., a daughter of ex-Mayor 
Jonathan Rush. He remained in Louis- 
ville until the fall of 1858, when he re- 
moved to Summit, in Clark county, Ind., 
retaining his position with the Louisville 
Chemical Works, with Prof. J. Lawrence 
Smith, remaining until 1860. When the 
the Civil War began in 1861, he com- 
menced recruiting a company for the Fed- 
eral army, but receiving a hurt which pre- 
vented him from taking the field, he turned 
his recruits over to another, sold his farm, 
and removed back to Alleghany City. In 
August, 1862, he enlisted in Co. G, 123d 
Pennsylvania Vol. Infantry, commanded by 
Col. John B. Clark. He was commissioned 
second lieutenant soon after the battle of 
Fredericksburg, and was mustered out with 
his regiment, at Harrisburg, Pa., May 13, 
1863. Soon after quitting the army, he 
entered the detective service of the United 
States Government, where he remained a 
few months, when he was appointed second 
lieutenant by President Lincoln in the 
Signal Corps of the United States army, 
and ordered to report at Washington City. 
He arrived there in September and went 
into the Camp of Instruction at George- 
town Heights. He continued in camp till 
October 11, when he was ordered to report 
to General Meade, and remained on duty 
at his headquarters for some time, when he 
was selected by Capt. L. B. Morton to go, 
with Col. Ulrie Dahlgren, then making his 
preparations for an expedition, in connection 
with General Kilpatrick, to liberate the 
prisoners in and about Richmond. Lieut. 
Bartley had charge of all the signal ar- 
rangements, etc. The expedition failed, 
Col. Dahlgren was killed in an ambush and 
most of his men captured, including Lieut. 
Bartley. They were taken to old Libby 
and put in a dungeon under the prison, 



126 



HARRISON COUNTY 



with the pleasant assurance of being 
hanged in a short time. After suffering in- 
numerable hardships and remaining a pris- 
oner until in April, 1865, he was declared 
exchanged. When he was captured he 
weighed 160 pounds, and when he got 
back among his own friends he weighed 
but 118 pounds. Upon being exchanged 
he reported to Col. Fisher, Chief Signal 
Officer at Washington, who ordered him 
into camp at Georgetown to wait assig- 
ment. Col. Fisher wished him to go to 
Gen. Sherman, but he declined, because his 
eyes had failed to such an extent that he 
could not see to read signals. He was then 
assigned to Fort Ethan Allen, near the Vir- 
ginia end of the chain bridge, and soon 
after was ordered on secret service duty at 
the War Department, at the request of 
Hon. Jo. Holt, Judge Advocate General of 
the United States army. The special and 
most important work assigned him was to 
prove to the country that the Confederate 
authorities at Kichmond had placed a 
mine under Libby Prison, that they might 
blow it up in case the Dahlgren raiders 
succeeded in getting into the city, their ob- 
ject being to kill all the prisoners rather 
than that they should escape. This proof 
he succeeded in obtaining, and that from 
the very men who placed the powder in the 
mine. He performed the service, and was 
on duty until after the trial of President 
Lincoln's assassins. He was then dis- 
charged by the general order of the War 
Department, and returned to Alleghany 
City. He lost his property in 1861 by de- 
preciation, and he now set about repairing 
damages. He engaged in the plumbing 
business in Pittsburgh, remaining there un- 
til 1872, when he went to Youngstown, 
Ohio. He remained there two years, when 
his eyes failed, and he quit the plumbing 
business and spent two years in the oil re- 



gions. In 1877 he came to Harrison 
county, Ind., where he has since resided. 



SOCRATES J. BENCE, Harrison county, 
farmer and ex-sheriff of the county, was born 
in Harrison county, within four miles of Cory- 
don, November 5, 1825. He was reared 
on the farm, educated in the common 
schools of the county, and later attended 
the Corydon Seminary, taught by James G. 
May. On leaving school he returned to 
the farm, and was engaged in farming and 
saw-milling combined; in 1SS4 he became 
the nominee of his party, the Democrats, 
for sheriff of the county, and was elected, 
and at the end of his term of two years 
was re-nominated and was again elected by 
an increased majority, his majority being 
something over four hundred, while some 
of the other candidates for county offices 
on the same ticket were defeated. 

In 1853 he was married to Miss Ambrosia 
E. Nelson, of Harrison county, daughter of 
Franklin Nelson, farmer and Revolutionary 
soldier, who settled in the county from 
New York in 1816. To this marriage have 
been born six children : Walter A., Mary, 
Jennie, John F., Louanah and Charles W. 

Mr. Bence has a farm near town and is 
also engaged in the mercantile business at 
Corydon. His parents, John and Elizabeth 
(Miller) Bence, were born respectively in 
Jefferson county, Ky., and Pennsylvania. 

John Bence settled in Harrison county 
in 1818. He was a prominent farmer and 
once made the run for Representative to 
the State Legislature, and was beaten only 
eighteen votes by Frederick Leslie, a Whig 
and at that time the Whig party had a 
majority- in the county of about seven hun- 
dred. He died in 1852 and was born in 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



127 



1802, and Mrs. Elizabeth Bence died in 
1874 and was born in 1818. 



JAMES H. BENNETT, M. D., was born 
December 27, 1837, in this county, and is 
a son of John and Rebecca (Moyers) Ben- 
nett, the former a native of Kentucky, and 
the latter of Harrison county. The older 
Bennett was a farmer, but later engaged in 
merchandizing at New Amsterdam. Forty 
years ago he ran a peddling wagon. He 
was born in 1812 and died in 1882. He 
was a man of energy and enterprise, and 
engaged actively in every thing to promote 
the interest of the community in which he 
lived. He owned and ran the Amsterdam 
flouring mill, and was for some time town- 
ship trustee. Mrs. Bennett's father, John 
Moyers, was a native of Shenandoah county, 
Va., came here and entered the land around 
Amsterdam. James H., the subject, was 
reared on the farm and received a common- 
school education, after which he entered 
Hartsville College where he "finished off." 
In 1861 he enlisted in the First Indiana 
Cavalry as hospital steward, which he held 
for twenty months ; he then became assist- 
ant surgeon of Forty-sixth United States 
Colored Infantry, which position he held, 
not only until the close of the war, but for 
nearly a year after. For two years of his 
service, the chief surgeon being absent, he 
did all the work. After the war closed he 
came to New Amsterdam and engaged in 
the coal business for a year and a half. 
He then entered Miami Medical College, 
at Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 
1S68. His practice in the army entitled 
him to one course of lectures, so he had to 
take but one at college. After graduating 
he commenced practice at Mauckport, Ind., 



in 1868, and in 1873 he came to New 
Amsterdam, and since that time has en- 
gaged in merchandizing. He was married 
in 1871 to Miss Margaret E. Pardy, a na- 
tive of Ohio. They have had eleven chil- 
dren, ten of whom are living. He served 
as postmaster at New Amsterdam until 
Cleveland's election, when he "walked the 
plank." He is an Odd Fellow, a member of 
Wm. T. Jones Post, No. 517, G. A. R., and 
is a Republican in polities. 



WILLIAM M. BENSON was born in 
this county, within one mile of Lanesville, 
January 16, 1832, and is a son of Robert 
and Malinda (Sampson) Benson, the former 
a native of England, who came to the 
United States when only fourteen years of 
age. He built the first canal at Louis- 
ville, Ky. ; left England in 1818, came to 
Louisville, Ky., in 1826, and to Indiana in 
1832. 

William M., the subject of this sketch, 
was reared on the farm and educated in 
the common schools of the county. 

He was married in January, 1852, to 
Miss Anna Lemmons, daughter of John 
Lemmons, a prominent farmer of Harri- 
son county. They have nine living chil- 
dren, as follows : James, Kempt, Ella, 
Alonzo, Arthur, Robert, Ada Retta, Will- 
iam and Laura. James is married to 
Miss Martha Felmey, and is farming ; Ella 
is married to Joseph Brown, now working 
in the Democrat office in Corydon ; Robert 
is practicing medicine in Gibson county, 
Ind., at a town called Buckskin ; Laura is 
married to Joseph Yost, of Lanesville ; the 
others are all single and live at home. 

Mr. Benson is a large farmer and stock- 
raiser. He owns 350 acres of as good 



128 



HARRISON COUNTY 



land as there is in the county, and raises 
corn, wheat, potatoes and hay. He was 
elected trustee of Franklin township three 
successive terms, serving until 1874. In 
1875 he took charge of the treasurer's office, 
having been elected on the Democratic 
ticket, and in 1876 was re-elected by a 
large majority. 

He is one among a few treasurers for 
20 years who have come out of the office 
with clean skirts. He was elected justice 
of the peace in 1880, which he held until 
1885, as the town of Lanesville was then 
incorporated and appointed a justice of 
the peace of its own. 



LEVI BLUNK was the seventh in a 
family of nine children born to Andrew and 
Mary (Johnson) Blunk, the former born in 
Jefferson county, Kentucky, and the latter 
of Virginia. Andrew Blunk was son of 
Andrew and Mary (Calhoun) Blunk, the 
latter, a blood relation to John C. Calhoun, 
the famous South Carolina statesman, and 
the former a pioneer who was known far 
and wide. He was well acquainted with 
Adam Poe, the borderer who killed the 
noted Indian chief "Big Foot," in a hand- 
to-hand fight; was also a compeer of 
Daniel Boone, Crawford, Dr. Knight, SloVer, 
etc. ; he was Revolutiona.xy soldier in the 
Virginia Line, and took part in many of 
the famous battles of that long contest. 
Mary (Johnson) Blunk was a daughter of 
Henson and Jane Johnson. Levi, whose 
whose name heads this sketch, was born 
September 8, 1837. He was reared on the 
farm, and received such education as the 
common schools afforded, together with the 
advantages of a select school at Elizabeth, 
this county. One of his brothers was a 



soldier in the Mexican war, and died there 
(at Brazos Santiago), August 0, 1846. 
Levi enlisted July 16, 1861, in Co. K, 
Twenty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 
and was discharged December 5, 1862, on 
account of disability. He was married 
May 8, 1864, to Miss Sarah E., daughter 
of James Bailey, Esq., and removed to 
Daviess county, Kentucky. She bore three 
children, viz : Nettie C, born May 20, 
1866; Mary J., March 20, 1868; John 
T., November 11, 1870, and died March 10, 
1871. Mr. Blunk moved back to Harrison 
county, and March 7, 1S72, was married to 
Miss Martha J. Shafer. Of this second mar- 
riage were bom six children, viz : Andrew 
J., Ela M., Levi G., Frank L., Elsa P. and 
Grover Cleveland ; all of whom are living 
except Frank L., who died August 15, 
1881. Mr. Blunk lives upon the old home- 
stead where he was born, and owns 160 
acres of good land. 



GEORGE BOONE was born in Boone 
township, Harrison county, Ind., March 
16, 1837, and is the son of Craven and 
Sarah (Newman) Boone, natives of Jeffer- 
son county. Craven was the sou of George 
Boone, and the latter the son of Samuel 
Boone, and he the son of Moses Boone, and 
he the son of Squire Boone, who was a 
brother of Daniel Boone, pioneer of Ken- 
tucky. (For sketch of Squire Boone, see 
body of the history.) 

Craven Boone was born May 3, 1807, and 
died June 16, 1886. His wife, Sarah New- 
man Boone, was a daughter of Benjamin 
Newman, Esq., and was born in 1811. 
They had eleven children, of whom George 
Boone, the subject of this sketch, was the 
third. He (George) was brought up on a 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



129 



farm, and educated in the common schools. 
He enlisted in the late war, August 18, 1802, 
in Co. E, Eighty-first Ind. Vol. Infantry, 
and was discharged June 13, 1865, on ac- 
count of the war being over. He went in 
as a private and came out as a first lieu- 
tenant. He was in the battle of Stone 
River, Nashville, Columbia, Teun., and of 
Chickarnauga ; was at the battle of Atlanta, 
and in all the engagements of that cam- 
paign, and several other minor battles and 
skirmishes, and after the war was sent to 
Indianapolis and thence to Louisville, Ky., 
where he was discharged. 

He married Miss Heneria Inman, a 
daughter of Charles and Hersalia Inman, 
of Harrison county, the former born in 
Rising Sun, Ind., and the latter in Floyd 
county, Ind. Mr. and Mrs. Boone have 
had five children, viz: Frank F., born No- 
vember 3, 1869; Navaston W., July 24, 
1871; Gertrude L., August 28, 1874- ; 
Charles T., November 1, 1883, and Claude 
N., January 4, 1886; all of them areliving. 
Mr. Boone is a successful farmer, and an 
exemplary citizen. 



CAPT. N. B. BOONE was bom in Boone 
township, Harrison county, Ind., June 12, 
1835, and is a son of Craven Boone, a 
grandson of George Boone, who was a 
cousin of Squire Boone, the latter a brother 
of the old pioneer Daniel Boone, and an 
early settler in this county. Capt. Boone's 
mother was Sarah Newman, a daughter of 
Benjamin Newman, a native of Virginia, 
who moved to Tennessee and from there to 
Indiana. 

Capt. Boone is the second in a family of 
eleven children born to his parents, Craven 
and Sarah (Newman) Boone. He was reared 



on a farm and educated in the common 
schools of the county and in the higher 
schools of Corydon. He was elected Re- 
corder of the county, 1858, and after serv- 
ing three years resigned to enter the army. 
In 1S62 he enlisted in the Eighty-first 
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Co. E., of 
which he was a captain. He resigned in 
October, 1863, and returned home. 

He was married October 8, 1867 to Miss 
Anna R. Helms, born August 1, 1846, and 
a daughter of Dr. H. N. and Mary Helms — 
the latter a daughter of Rev. John Davis, 
a Methodist preacher, and a sister to Hon. 
John W. Davis of Sullivan county, Ind., a 
member of Congress from that district. 

Capt. and Mrs. Boone have had nine 
children, as follows : Rush H., Mary M., 
Ida, Lola V., Fay N., Bonnie A., Ham- 
met N. and Anna C. (twins), and Daniel E. 
The twins, Hammet and Anna, both died 
in a few weeks after their birth. Capt. 
Boone was in the mercantile business, and 
sold goods at Laconia in 1864. From 
there he moved to New Albany, and after 
several other removals returned to Harri- 
son county, and located at Corydon. 

Remaining at Corydon (merchandising), 
he then removed to Mauckport, where he 
sold goods about eighteen months, and 
bought a store-boat, on which he made two 
trips, one to Cottonwood Point, Mo., and 
one to Memphis, Tenn. 

He followed merchandising from 1864 
to 1874, since which time he has been de- 
voting his time to agriculture, and owns an 
excellent farm of 130 acres. 



PHILIP BORDEN was born in Scott 
township, Harrison county, in 1839, and is 
a son of Levi Borden, a native of Virginia, 



130 



HARRISON COUNTY 



and a grandson of Jonathan Broden, who 
came from Virginia in an early day and 
settled in this county, and was a farmer of 
considerable means. 

Levi Borden resides in Crawford county, 
and is over eighty years of age. Philip, 
the subject, was reared on the farm, partly 
in this and partly in Crawford county. He 
enlisted, in 1862, in the 06th Indiana Vol- 
unteer Infantry but was discharged in four 
months for disability. While in the serv- 
ice he took part in the battle of Bichmond, 
Ky., was captured by the Bebels, remained 
a prisoner four days and was then paroled. 
He returned to Crawford county. He owns 
240 acres of valuable land, well improved. 

He was married in 1866 to Miss Sarah 
H. Sharp. They have seven children, viz : 
Perry, Lucilla, Leander, Daniel J., Ira, 
Julius and Benjamin. 



AMOS BRANDENBUEG was born in 
this (Harrison) county, August 27, 1883 
and is a son of Philip and Lydia (Char- 
ley) Brandenburg, natives of Kentucky. 
The father of the former, Jonathan Brand- 
enburg, was born near Winchester, Va., 
and came to Harrison county, in 1816, 
from Meade county, Ky. George Charley, 
Sr., Lydia Charley Brandenburg's father, 
was a native of Virginia, and served through 
the Revolutionary war, and came to Har- 
rison county in 1811, and settled on a 
farm, on which was built the first water 
grist-mill in the county, on Big Indian 
creek. 

His pioneer neighbors were a Mr. Sam- 
uel Bell, from Kentucky, Mr. Nicholas 
Weadman and Jacob Flesh man. Jona- 
than Brandenburg died in 1854 at the age 
of seventy-nine years. Philip Brandenburg, 



father of Amos, was born December 8, 
lS03,andwasa farmer and saw-mill man. 
Absalom Brandenburg, the great uncle of 
Amos, settled on the now site of Branden- 
burg, Ky., and for him the town was named. 
Matthias Brandenburg, the great-grand- 
father of Amos, was born near Berlin, 
Germany. 

Amos Brandenburg, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared on the farm and edu- 
cated in the primitive schools of the time. 
He was captain of Co. H in the 6th Regi- 
ment Indiana Legion, and served through- 
out the war. He was in the John Morgan 
raid and in the battle of Corydon, under 
the command of Col. Lears Jordan, of this 
county. 

He was married, in 1861, to Miss Dor- 
thula Blankenbaker, native of the county, 
and daughter of Jesse Blankenbaker, an 
early settler. They had three children by 
this union — Wm. R., Charles S. and Flor- 
ence E. His wife having died in 1879, he 
married again in 1 880, Miss Emma E . As- 
kew a native of the county, and daughter 
of Thomas Askew, a native of Kentucky. 
They had by this union two children — Jen- 
nie L. and Kittie M. The Brandenburg 
family have a large estate in Germany, 
exceeding 29,000,000 dollars. 



JOSEPH BRANDENBURG was born 
March 22, 1830, and is the son of Philip 
and Lydia (Charley) Brandenburg, natives 
of Meade county, Ky. (For particulars of 
family history, see sketch of Amos Brand- 
enburg.) 

Joseph, the subject, was reared, on the 
farm and educated in the common schools. 
During the war was a member of the Home 
Guards, commanded by Capt. George La- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



131 



Hue, and was in an engagement with Mor- 
gan during his raid through Indiana, in 
June, 1863. 

He was married, in 1859, to Miss Per- 
lina Myers, a native of Harrison county, 
and a daughter of Perry Myers. They have 
three children : Sarah Ellen, Mary Ann 
and Cora E. 



GEOEGE W. BRINLEY was born Jan- 
uary 17, 18-41, in Harrison county, and is a 
son of Hiram and Amanda (Lefler) Brinley, 
also of this county ; the former was horn 
about 1817, and was a farmer — died in 
1817; the latter was a daughter of Peter 
and Catherine Lefler, natives of Kentucky, 
and was bom about 1810. 

George W., the subject, was the fifth of 
six children, and was raised on the farm 
and received but a common-school educa- 
tion. He followed farming until the war 
came on, when, in December, 1863, he vol- 
unteered in the Eighty-first Indiana Volun- 
teer Infantry, Co. F. His term expired 
in December, 1865, when he was mus- 
tered out of the service and honorably 
discharged. He joined his regiment at 
Bridgeport, Ala., and was immediately 
taken with pneumonia and confined to the 
hospital for three months. 

He then joined his regiment at Pulaski, 
Term., and was in the skirmishes of Spring- 
hill, and at Columbus, Ga. He was in the 
severe battles of Franklin and Nashville, 
where he was wounded. After the fighting 
was mostly over he was sent to Texas, 
where he remained until he was discharged. 
He returned home and has since farmed 
successfully. He has never married, but 
like a dutiful son, took care of his mother. 
His mother died October 1, 1888. 



LABAN BROWN was born in Monroe 
county, Kentucky, October 18, 1834, and 
is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Otten) 
Brown, the former born in Virginia in 
1787, and the latter in Georgia in 1808. 
The elder Brown emigrated to Kentucky 
and settled near Covington, where he re- 
sided until 1S39, when he removed to 
Indiana and settled in Crawford county; 
later he moved to Harrison county, 
where the remainder of his life was spent. 
He died about 1871. He was a soldier 
in the War of 1812, serving first under 
Gen. Harrison and afterward under Gen. 
Jackson ; was with the latter at New 
Orleans, and assisted in guarding the body 
of Gen. Pakenham, who commanded the 
British army, and was killed in that battle ; 
was with Gen. Harrison at Tippecanoe. 
He was wounded while helping to build a 
fort during his service in the War of 1812, 
from which he was a cripple the remainder 
of his life. He was a zealous supporter 
and a consistent member of the Presbyte- 
rian Church. His wife, Elizabeth Otten 
Brown, came with her parents to Kentucky 
in an early day, where she married. She 
is still living, making her home with her 
children. The subject of this sketch, 
Laban Brown, was raised on a farm, and 
educated in the common schools. When 
twenty-four years of age he married Miss 
Catherine Blair. Her father was a Virgin- 
ian and her mother a native of Harrison 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had four 
children, viz : Levi, Ida, Lela and William. 
Mrs. Brown died October 16, 1876, after 
being an invalid for nine years. In 1881 
Mr. Brown married Julia Blume, a daugh- 
ter of John Blume, who was born in Ten- 
nessee, moved from thence to Shenandoah 
county, Virginia, and thence to Harrison 
county, Indiana. Two children was the 



132 



HARRISON COUNTY 



result of this marriage, viz : Ernest E. and 
Jessie May. Mr. Brown enlisted in Sep- 
tember, 1863, in Co. D, Thirteenth In- 
diana Cavalry, in which he served until 
in December, 1865. He was in the battle 
of Murfreesboro, the Seven days' fighting, 
and at Spanish Fort. After the war he 
returned home and resumed farming. Mr. 
Brown owns ninety-five acres of fine land, 
highly improved and well cultivated. He 
is an active and energetic and prosperous 
farmer. 



DR. JACOB C. CLARKE was born in 
the State of Vermont, July 12, 1809. His 
father owned an extensive sheep farm in 
that State. Dr. Clarke was reared on the 
farm, attending the schools of the neigh- 
borhood, and later entered Mt. Piller 
College, where he pursued his studies for 
two years. At the age of 17, his father 
and family removed to New Richmond, 
Clemont county, Ohio. In this State he 
entered college at Oxford, and continued 
his studies for eighteen months, where he 
received his diploma as Bachelor of Arts. 
In 1826 he went to Cincinnati, and at once 
began the study of medicine under the in- 
structions of Drs. Porter & Bradley ; at the 
same time attended a series of lectures at 
the Ohio Medical College, taught by the 
eminent Dr. Eberle one of the principal 
professors of the College. In 1835 he 
again entered a doctor's office as a student, 
but this time in the office of Dr. Eberle. 
He again entered the Ohio Medical College, 
where he graduated with high honors in 
the winter of 1837. He came to Indiana 
the same year and located at Salem, Wash- 
ington county, and began the practice of 
his profession. He remained at Salem for 
three years, when, in 1840, he removed to 
Corydon, Harrison county, Ind., where he 



has since resided and where for nearly 
forty years he has successfully practiced 
medicine. 

He is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. 

In 1833 he was married to Miss Eliza 
Neal, of Nashville, Tenn. This union has 
been blessed with nine children, of whom 
only one is living — Emily, wife of Henry 
Neely, of Harrison county, Ind. Catha- 
rine was the wife of Harvey McCarthy ; 
she died in 1854. Morgan B. lived to 
be 32 years of age ; he died in 1872. Eliza 
was married to Wm. C. Green; she and 
husband both died within 24 hours of each 
other, in 1878, leaving two children, Catha- 
rine and Jacob C. Green. Agnus, Florence, 
Fannie and Jacob C. all died with the 
spotted fever in 1864. 

Dr. Clarke's father was a native of Eng- 
land, coming to America and serving 
through the Revolutionary war, fighting at 
the battles Cowpens and King's Mountain. 
He died in 1856, at the age of 92. 

Dr. Clarke's grandfather Clarke was a 
near kinsman to the Clarke who wrote the 
Commentaries on the Bible, belonging 
to one the best families in England. Dr. 
Clarke's mother died in 1859, at the age of 
92 years. 



LUKE H. COLVIN was born July 11, 
1846, and is the son of Andrew H. and 
Martha Colvin ; the former was born in 
Hardin county, Ky., in 1813, and was of 
Irish ancestry, who settled first in Virginia, 
but afterward removed to Kentucky. 

Not satisfied with the latter place, Mr. 
Andrew Colvin came to Indiana in 1832, 
and settled in Harrison county. When he 
settled here he had one horse, and seventy- 
five cents in his pocket. By strict econ- 
omy, energy and honesty, he succeeded in 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



133 



accumulating considerable property. He 
boated to New Orleans, making twenty-one 
voyages tbitber, witb cargoes of produce, 
and bringing back sucb goods as bis 
neigbborbood needed. 

He died December 7, 1884 ; his wife died 
some time before bim. At bis death be 
owned 600 acres of fair land. Luke H. 
Colvin, the subject of this sketch, was the 
second in a family of ten children. He 
was raised on a farm, and received the 
benefits of a common-school education. 
When but eighteen years of age, he en- 
listed in the 58th Indiana Volunteers, 
Co. K, October 19, 1864, joining the 
regiment near Atlanta. He participated 
in all the battle's and skirmishes in which 
the regiment engaged, until the close of 
the struggle at Appomattox. He took part 
in the grand review in Washington City, 
after the war was over, and was discharged 
July 25, 1805, and came home. 

He was married January 3, 1869, to 
Miss Lizzie Mclntyre, a daughter of Owen 
and Elizabeth Mclntyre, natives of Ire- 
land. The former died of sunstroke July 
1, 1855. 

The latter is still living. Mr. and Mrs. 
Colvin have had eight children, viz : 
Florence, born Jan. 21, 1870; Susan B., 
July 22, 1871; William, Jan. 7, 1873; 
Minnie, Dec. 22, 1S74, Daisy, Nov. 20, 
1879; Robert, May 22, 1881; Addie, April 
24, 1SS4; John, Jan. 7, 1886. 

Three of them are dead, viz : Susan B. 
died Oct. 3, 1S71 ; Addie died May 5, 1884; 
and John died Aug. 28, 1S86. 

Mr. Colvin has a farm of 73 acres of 
highly improved land, and which is in a 
fine state of cultivation. 



THOMAS W. COMBS was born in tins 
county, Sept. 20, 1835, and is a sou of 



David and Jane (Rogers) Combs, both na- 
tives of Virginia — the former was born in 
Hampshire county, Virginia, about 1784; 
was a soldier in the war of 1812, and 
when it was over he came west and settled 
in Indiana ; the latter was a daughter of 
Thomas and Sarah Rogers — the former of 
Revolutionary fame. David Combs was a 
son of Adam Combs, a Revolutionary sol- 
dier who served with distinction during the 
war, in Lee's division of Washington's army. 
Thomas W., the subject of this sketch, was 
reared on a farm, and received but a 
limited education sucb as was afforded by 
the public schools. When the war broke 
out he joined the Home Guard service, but 
Sept. 23, 1864, he joined Co. G, Fifty- 
eighth Indiana Vol. Infantry, from which he 
was discharged June 4, 1865, the war 
being over. He returned home after his 
discharge, and resumed his farm work. 
He was married Dec. 23, 1857, to Miss 
Mary Shaney, a daughter of Michael and 
Elizabeth (Brown) Shaney, the former born 
in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Combs have 
had five children as follows : David was 
born Jan. 27, 1859, and died Oct. 15, 
1865; Elizabeth, born Dec. 8, 1S59; Will- 
iam E. C, Sept. 2, 1862; Mary J., Nov. 
10, 1864; Michael E., Dec. 15, 1866. 
Mrs. Combs died April 8, 1867 ; and April 
18, 1868, Mr. Combs married Martha 
Kron, whose maiden name was Kingrey, 
a native of Harrison county. To this 
marriage was born nine children, viz : 
Martha, Dec. 6, 1868 ; Thos. I., Nov. 10, 
1869; Sarah A., May 9, 1871; Mary A., 
Oct. 19,1873; Rosalie, Feb. 15, 1876; 
Lydia A., Jan. 13, 1878; Eli R., Oct. 20, 
1879; Ura K., July 24, 1881; all of whom 
are living. 



JOHN N. COOPER was born in this 
(Harrison) county, Sept. 12, 1830, and is 



134 



HARRISON COUNTY 



the son of John and Mary (Chappell) 
Cooper, the former a native of Virginia, 
born in 179S, and the latter a daughter of 
Jesse Chappell, a native of Kentucky. 
The elder Cooper was a son of Isaac 
Cooper, born in Virginia, and emigrated to 
Indiana in an early day, where he and his 
wife and one two children died with small- 
pox about 1830. 

To John and Mary Chappell Cooper, 
were born nine children, John N., the sub- 
ject of this sketch, being the fifth. He 
was brought up on a farm and educated in 
the common schools of the county. He 
was married to Miss Elizabeth Peyton, 
June 27, 1853, a daughter of Abraham and 
Rachel Peyton, natives of Harrison county, 
Indiana. They had nine children, born as 
follows : William L., Aug. 21, 1855 ; Eachel 
A., Oct. 1, 1S57; Sarah J., Dec. 5, 1859; 
Edward L., Dec. 22, 1861 ; Mary E., Feb. 
25, 1S64; John T., Nov. 19, 1865; Delilah 
E., Oct. 5, 1867; Geo. C, Dec. 10, 1871; 
Robert H., Jan. 4, 1876. Rachel died 
April 19, 1876 ; Sarah died April 12, 1883; 
Delilah died May 4, 1881, and Robert 
died Jan. 4, 1S76. Mrs. Cooper died June 
4, 1888. Mr. Cooper enlisted Aug. 6, 
1862, in Co. E, Eighty-first Indiana Vol. 
Infantry. He was wounded at the battle 
of Stone River Dec. 31, 1862, and came 
home and resumed farming. He is an 
active man in his neighborhood, and takes 
a 2)rominent part in all enterprises for the 
good of the county. Politically his 
sympathies are with the Labor party. 



JESSE E. CRITCHLOW was born in 
Pennsylvania, January 18, 1830, and is 
the son of James and Dorcas (Holt) 
Critchlow, natives of Pennsylvania; the 



former was a farmer and miller. Jesse E., 
the subject of this sketch, was the oldest 
in a family of nine children. He served a 
full apprenticeship to the wagonmaker's 
trade, under J. Cleffer, and became a 
skillful mechanic. On completing his 
trade he began work as a journeyman 
with his former employer. After traveling 
considerably, and working at his trade in 
different places, he returned to Pennsyl- 
vania, and was married September 23, 
1852, to Miss Lavina Stepp, a native of 
Pennsylvania, and born March 12, 1832. 
She was a daughter of Michael and Cathe- 
rine (Heckhast) Stepp, also natives of Penn- 
sylvania. After their marriage, Mr. and 
Mrs. Critchlow emigrated to Indiana, and 
settled in Harrison county. 

In 1861 he enlisted in Co. I, 37th 
Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His term of 
service expired November 10, 1864, when 
he was mustered out and discharged. He 
then returned home and settled down again 
to farming ; he pays considerable attention 
to fruit culture, in which he has been quite 
successful. 

Mr. and Mrs. Critchlow have had five 
children, born as follows : Ephraim, Octo- 
ber 11, 1855; Annetta, August 8, 1S57; 
John C, July 22, 1859 ; Sarah Adda, May 
16, 1861 ; and Francis Marion, August 6, 
1865 ; all of whom are living. 



JOHN F. CROMWELL was born in 
Webster township, Harrison county, June 
20, 1844, and is the son of Lewis and 
Mildred (Fields) Cromwell ; the former a 
native of Virginia, and an Englishman by 
descent, who emigrated to Kentucky early. 
He followed flatboating for many years to 
the South, carrying produce, etc., to 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



135 



the Southern markets. Twelve children 
were born to him, of whom John F. was 
the youngest but one. He (John F.) was 
raised on a farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools. He enlisted in Co. C, 66th 
Indiana Vol. Infantry, Aug. 9, 1862, and 
was mustered out in 1865, when the war was 
over. He saw much hard service. April 
19,1869,he was married to Mary F.Frakes, 
a daughter of Harvey and Ellen Frakes. 
They have had five children: James A., 
born April 20, 1870 ; Charles L., born 
March 27, 1872; Emma W., born October 
14, 1876 ; Edward C, born November 18, 
1878; and Olga G., born January 2, 1881, 
all of whom are living. 



OLIVER CROMWELL is a historic 
name, and withal has a rather sanguinary 
hue to it, but Shakespeare tells us there is 
nothing in a name, and doubtless the sub- 
ject of this sketch bears no relationship to 
the author of the English Commonwealth. 

The gentleman whose name heads this 
sketch was born July 26, 1841, and is a 
native of Harrison county. He is a son of 
Sanford and Lavina (Meek) Cromwell, the 
former a native of this county and the lat- 
ter of Kentucky. Sanford Cromwell was a 
son of Fielding and Elizabeth (Rucker) 
Cromwell, being one of nine children born 
to them. 

Lavina Meek Cromwell was a daughter 
of Edwin and Rachel Meek, natives of 
Kentucky, and born about 1816-17. 

To Sanford and Lavina Cromwell were 
born four children, of whom Oliver, the 
subject of this sketch, was the second. He 
was brought up on the farm and received 
Buch education as was to be obtained in 
the common schools of the county. 



When the war broke out he enlisted in 
Co. K, 59th Ind. Infantry, in 1862. At 
the expiration of his first enlistment he 
veteranized and served until peace was 
conquered at Appomattox. He was in the 
first expedition down the Mississippi, was 
in the Vicksburg campaign, and participated 
in all the principal engagements in that 
division of the army, including Sherman's 
march to the sea. After the war was over 
he returned home and resumed his farm- 
ing. 

He was married to Miss Ann J. Highfill, 
February 15, 1866, a daughter of Edward 
and Adaline (Bean) Highfill, and born 
April 12, 1842. They have eight children, 
born as follows: Mollie C, December 15, 
1866 ; Hattie A., February 2, 1869 ; Low- 
ell, December 3, 1871 ; Julia B., April 1, 
1873 ; Lottie 0., October 10, 1875.; Will- 
iam R., January 6, 1878; Manford E., 
April 14, 1881, and Mayzo, October 1, 1S86. 

Mr. Cromwell has 160 acres of land, well 
improved and in a fine state of cultivation. 
He and his family are members of the M. 
E. Church. 



ROBERT CROSIER was born in Har- 
rison county, Indiana, July 25, 1842, and 
is the son of Adam and Sarah (Douglas) 
Crosier ; the former a native of New York, 
born October 13, 1805, and a son of Robert 
Crosier, who was born in Northumberland, 
England, February 8, 1782; and he was 
the son of Adam Crosier, a native of Eng- 
land, who emigrated to America about the 
year 1800, and died in New York, within 
seven miles of Geneva, about 1828. His 
wife's maiden name was Isabel Renwick, 
and she died about 1858. 

Robert Crosier married Eleanor Stokoo 
about 1804, and Adam Crosier, the father 
of the subject of this sketch, was the oldest 



136 



HARRISON COUNTY 



child of this union. He (Adam Crosier) 
moved to Indiana and settled on a farm in 
Boone township which was originally en- 
tered by Edward Stokoe in 1816. 

He married Sarah D. Douglas, born in 
Westchester county, N. Y., August 1, 
180(3, and a daughter of Adam and Sarah 
Douglas, natives of England. To Adam 
and Sarah Douglas Crosier were born seven 
children, of whom Eobert, the subject of 
this sketch, was the youngest but one. He 
was brought up on the farm and received a 
good practical education in the public 
schools of the county. He enlisted Febru- 
ary 7, 1802, in Co. B, Fifty-third 
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was dis- 
charged April 10, 1865, on account of ex- 
piration of his term of service. He returned 
to his home in Harrison county and re- 
sumed farming. January 17, 1867. he 
married Miss Martha E. Grass, a daughter 
of Ignatius and Elizabeth (Marsh) Grass, 
born November 19, 1846. They have 
three children, viz : Ida M., born October 
29, 1867; Walter G., December 9, 1870, 
and Sidney W., June 21, 1883, all of whom 
are living. Mr. Crosier lives on the farm 
where he was born, and is an energetic and 
prosperous farmer and an excellent citizen. 



JAMES CUBKENT was born in Harri- 
son county, April 4, 1822, and is a son of 
Samuel and Mary (Applegate) Current, 
natives of Pennsylvania, who came to In- 
diana in 1815. He settled on a farm and 
continued to farm until his death in 1851. 
Both he and his wife were consistent mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church. She 
died in 1844. James, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared on the farm and edu- 
cated in the common schools. He was 



married in 1846 to Miss Susan Deen, a 
daughter of Jeremiah G. and Catherine 
(Lopp) Deen ; the former a native of Mary- 
land, who came here when a young man, 
and the latter a native of Kentucky, who 
also came here in early life. They have 
but one child living, Jeremiah G. D. Cur- 
rent, who married Miss Adaline Haas, a 
daughter of Bev. Jacob Haas, of Harrison 
county. Mr. Current is a member of the 
United Brethren Church, and has been 
township trustee for four years. 

He has a fine farm of 140 acres, lying 
one and a half miles north of Mauckport, 
highly improved and well cultivated. Mr. 
Current is a liberal-minded man, and a 
ready contributor to every enterprise cal- 
culated to promote the interest of his sec- 
tion of the county. 



JACOB A. CUBTS, farmer, of Scott 
township, is a native of the county, and 
was born in 1S44. He is a son of Moses 
J. and Fannie (Cole) Curts, who were both 
born in Illinois. Jacob A.'s grandfather 
Curts was a soldier in the War of 1812. 
His father removed from Illinois to Harri- 
son county previously to the civil war. 
When our subject was 18 years of age he 
enlisted in 81st Ind. Vol. Infantry, and 
served his country well, until he was hon- 
orably discharged in 1865, having enlisted 
for three years. He participated in the 
battles of Perryville, Nashville, Stone Biver, 
Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Franklin, 
(Tenn.), and was at the surrender of Sa- 
vannah and wounded at the battle of Stone 
Biver. Was captured at the battle of Chick- 
amauga, but was soon retaken by his own 
men. In 1866 was married to Miss Lu- 
cinda Swartz, who was born in the county. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



137 



They have nine children : Minerva M., John 
D., Leonard L., Agnus M., Minnie E., Har- 
vey Dudley, Jaeoh W. and Benson. 

Mr. Curts has a small farm of 127 acres, 
and is an enterprising and honorable citi- 
zen. 



WILLIAM DANIEL, M. D., was born 
in Crawford county, Ind., October 7, 1852, 
and is a son of Wm. S. Daniel and Sarah 
Catherine (Russell) Daniel, the former, a 
native of Floyd county, Ind., and the latter 
a native of Virginia. 

They were married at New Albany, Ind., 
in 1851, and settled at Milltown, Ind., the 
same year. The mother died at Milltown, 
Ind., in the year 1871. 

The father was a private in the regular 
army of the United States in early life, and 
entered the volunteer service as orderly 
sergeant of Co. G, 23d Indiana Infan- 
try, in June, 1861, and was finally dis- 
charged as sergeant-major of the 144th 
Ecgt. Indiana Infantry, in the year 1865. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
at Milltown, Crawford county, Ind., and 
received the benefit of the common schools. 
He then took an academic course at Mar- 
engo Academy, Marengo, Ind., and com- 
menced the study of medicine with Drs. 
Hon and Byrn, at Milltown, Ind. He grad- 
uated from the Louisville Medical College, 
of Louisville, Ky., on the 25th day of 
February, 1875. In March of the some 
year, he was elected house physician to 
Louisville City Hospital, upon competitive 
examination for the position, standing 
second in point of proficiency among four 
successful candidates. Having resigned 
the position, he entered general practice 
with Dr. H. S. Wolfe, at Corydon, Ind., in 
August, 1875, and remained with him 
until April, 1876, when he settled at Mill- 



town, Ind. Remaining here one year, he 
removed to Marengo, Ind., at which place 
he remained until September 1, 1886, 
when he again located at Corydon, Harrison 
county, Ind., where he now resides and 
enjoys a large and lucrative practice. 

He received the "Ad eundem" Degree of 
the Hospital College of Medicine, of Louis- 
ville, Ky., in the year 1886. 

In 1875, March 18, he was married to 
Miss Frederica Martin, daughter of Fred- 
eric Martin, at Milltown, Ind., at that time 
the home of her parents, who now reside 
in Harrison county, Ind. 

They have four children. 

The Doctor is secretary of the Harrison 
County Medical Society and of the Harrison 
County Board of Health. 

He is a man well read and intelligent, a 
careful and painstaking physician, and is 
deservedly popular in his community. 



ROBERT F. DAVIS, Jr., Harrison coun- 
ty, trustee of Spencer township, farmer 
and auctioneer, was born April 16, 1852. 
His father and mother, George W. and Re- 
becca (Haas) Davis, were respectively born 
in Kentucky and Virginia. His father was 
born in 1823, and with his father moved to 
Harrison county in his youth. Robert F.'s 
maternal grandfather, Jacob Haas, a Vir- 
ginian by birth, settled in the county, al- 
so. George W. Davis, who is one of the 
substantial farmers of the county, served 
as county commissioner from 1872 to 
1875. Robert F. Davis was brought up 
on a farm, receiving his education in the 
county schools, and was married October 
5, 1873, to Miss Henrietta, daughter of 
Preston H. and Elizabeth Taylor (nee Dob- 
son), who were born in Kentucky and for 



138 



HARRISON COUNTY 



many years resided in Harrison county. 
They have living two children : Daniel R. 
and Floyd L., aged respectively thirteen 
and eight years. Mr. Davis owns a farm 
of 100 acres of well improved land in Hick- 
man Valley. Was elected trustee of the 
township in 1886 by his party, the Demo- 
crats, and hi 1888 was re-elected, and has 
so managed the affairs of his township that 
bespeaks well of his business qualifications. 
As an auctioneer Mr. Davis is very success- 
ful and few in the county better. 



SAMUEL B. DAVIS was born in Har- 
rison county, Ind., August 5, 1826, and is 
the son of John and Mary M. (Bell) Davis ; 
the former was born in Kentucky, on the 
Big Sandy river, March 25, 1803; the 
latter was also born in Kentucky, and was 
a daughter of Samuel Bell, who came to 
Kentucky from Pennsylvania, where he re- 
mained for some years, and then removed 
to Indiana among the earliest settlers. 
Samuel B., the subject of this sketch, was 
raised on a farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools until nine years of age, and 
what knowledge he received after that was 
by his own efforts, unassisted by anyone. 
At the age of 22 years he commenced flat- 
boating to New Orleans and other Southern 
markets, transporting produce and lime — 
the latter principally from Harrison county. 

He was married in 1850, to Miss Mary 
J. Breeden, a native of Harrison county, 
and a daughter of Bryant Breeden. They 
have ten children, seven of whom are liv- 
ing, viz : Mary E., Lafayette, Minerva, 
Elva Ann, Ida, Ira and Ella. Mrs. Davis 
died in 1876. 

Mr. Davis has held several township and 
county offices: township assessor, justice 



of the peace for six years, and six years as 
county commissioner. During his service 
in the last named office, the county jail was 
built and likewise the first iron bridge in 
the county. He owns 713 acres of valuable 
land, and is one of the county's prosperous 
farmers and exemplary citizens. 



THADDEUS DOBBINS was born in 
Green county, Ky., May 17, 1845, and is 
a son of Charles G. and Catherine (Gra- 
ham) Dobbins, natives of Kentucky ; the 
former moved to Harrison county in 1 858— 
59, where the remainder of his life was 
spent. His wife's parents came from Ger- 
many. When the war broke out he en- 
listed in Co. M, Third Indiana Cavalry, 
in which he served until in October, 1863, 
when he was discharged for disability. 
He afterward re-enlisted in Co. C, Seven- 
teenth Indiana Infantry, and served until 
the close of the war — bis final discharge 
being dated August 10, 1865. 

There were born to Charles G. and Cath- 
erine Dobbins thirteen children. Thaddeus, 
the subject, was reared on his father's 
farm, and when the war came on, though 
but a youth, enlisted February 25, 1864, 
in Co. C, Eighty-first Indiana Infantry, 
and was discharged August 10, 1865. 
He participated in the following battles 
and skirmishes : Resacca, Woodland, 
Kingston, Connersville, Russell Facto- 
ry, Blackjack Mountain, Buckhead, Cross 
Keys, Seige of Atlanta, Jonesboro, and ac- 
companied General Sherman in his march 
to the sea. He has many relics of his 
honorable services, among them his badge 
as color-bearer, regimental badge, rank 
and file badge, etc., showing his different 
grades of service. After the war he twisted 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



139 



his arms into agricultural implements, 
and engaged in farming. He was married 
November 2, 1865, to Miss Catherine Al- 
burn, a daughter of George and Barbara 
(Dietrich) Alburn, natives of Virginia. 
Mr. and Mrs. Dobbins have had eight 
children, born as follows : Laura, Octo- 
ber 28, 1866 ; Dora A., November 25, 1867 ; 
Elizabeth H., December 16,1869; Maud 
M., October 27, 1872; Charles B., Febru- 
ary 21, 1875; Fanny B., June 23,1877; 
Robert W., April 13, 1881 ; Nelly E., June 
14,1883; all of whom are living, except 
Elizabeth, who died August 12, 1874, when 
five years old. 



JACOB DOLL, one of the prominent 
farmers of Harrison county, is a native of 
Shenandoah county, Va. He was born in 
April, 1817. In the same year his par- 
ents moved to this county. He grew up 
on the farm and attended the subscription 
schools taught in that day. The county 
then was a little better than a wilderness, 
and school advantages, as well as many 
other advantages, were very meager. He 
married Miss Amanda Smith in 1841, a 
daughter of Thomas Smith, a prominent 
farmer of Harrison county and a Virgin- 
ian by birth, coming to the county the same 
year of Mr. Doll's family, 1817. The chil- 
dren born to this marriage, living, are : 
Agnus N., Lavina and Melvina, the two 
last names being twins. Agnus N. was 
the wife of Joshua Sonner, deceased, of Har- 
rison county ; Lavina, wife of John Hann, 
farmer of Harrison county; Melvina is 
the wife of Albert Bosenbarger, also a 
farmer of the county. The parents of 
the subject of this sketch were Jacob 
aud Rebecca Doll (nee Blind) ; both were 



born in Shenandoah county, Va. Jacob 
Doll, Sr.,was born in 1781 ; he died in 1851. 
Frederick and Mary were the other chil- 
dren born ; Frederick is now a large farmer 
in Cass county, Mo ; Mary was the wife 
of Thomas Gwartney, deceased. 

Mr. Doll owns a farm of 220 acres of fine 
land. It is situate on the Valley City 
road, six miles from Corydon. He is a 
member of the M. E. Church and an ex- 
emplary citizen. 



EDWARD B. DOUGLAS was born in 
Boone township, Harrison coimty, October 
27, 1842, and is a son of Yarrow and Mary 
(Fowler) Douglas, the former a native of 
Indiana, born July 6, 1811, and a son of 
Dr. Adam Douglas, a native of Scotland and 
a descendant of the great Douglas family of 
Scotland ; the latter born May 28, 1813, and 
a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Bashears) 
Fowler, natives of Tennessee and early 
settlers in Indiana. Yarrow Douglas was 
the youngest of six children born to Dr. 
Adam Douglas. He was a miller, and, 
though beyond the age required for a sol- 
dier, enlisted in the late war, and was 
killed in the battle of Hatchie River, Octo- 
ber 15, 1862. Four of his sons also served 
in the late war. Edward B., the subject 
of this sketch, enhsted March 10, 1863, in 
Co. B, 3d Ind. Cavalry, and was afterward 
transferred to Co. A. He was discharged 
April 10, 1865, by reason of disability on 
surgeon's certificate, having been severely 
wounded in battle — was shot through the 
left lung and also through the left arm, 
and rendered a cripple for life. After being 
discharged from the army he came home, 
and has since made his home with his 
mother, who was made a widow by the 
same means that made him a cripple, 



140 



HARRISON COUNTY 



They both draw a pension from the 
Government, through which they live com- 
fortably and respected among their neigh- 
bors and friends. 



"WILLIAM DYER was born in Hamil- 
ton county, Ohio, ten miles noith of Cin- 
cinnati, March 22, 1814, and is a son of 
James and Rachel Dyer, who emigrated 
from Ohio to Indiana in 1832, settling in 
Clark county. After the family arrived in 
Indiana, William, the subject, was ap- 
prenticed to John Kidwell to learn the 
cooper's trade. He was married August 
11, 1838, to Miss Elizabeth Johnson, and 
on the 11th of August, 1888, they cele- 
brated the fiftieth anniversary of their 
marriage. Mr. Dyer enlisted June 1, 
1862, and was discharged March 28, 1861, 
on account of disability. 

He was in Co. H, 28th Indiana Volun- 
teer Infantry and saw hard service as long 
as able to keep up. He was a drummer 
boy in enlisting volunteers for the Mexican 
war for Gen. Joseph Lane. James Dyer, 
William's father, was born in Delaware, 
and was a captain in the War of 1882, 
serving in the same regiment of which 
Richard M. Johnson was the colonel. 
Cabb Dyer, subject's grandfather, was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, and 
served under Gen. Washington. Elizabeth 
Johnson Dyer was the daughter of John 
and Margaret Johnson, and was born in 
Marietta, Ohio, August 7, 1820. Her 
father was a very eminent physician of 
his day. In childhood he was captured 
by the Indians and held a prisoner for 
seven years, and finally made his escape. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Dyer have been born 
eight children. Mr. Dyer and his vener- 



able wife are living quietly and peacefully 
together, waiting for the summons to their 
Heavenly Home. He is a prominent 
Mason and served as master of his lodge 
several times. 



NOAH ELBERT was born in Germany, 
November 24, 1838, and is a son of Joseph 
and Catherine (Modine) Elbert. They emi- 
grated to America about 1840, settling in 
Louisville, Ky., where he died in 1842. 
They had ten children of whom Noah was 
the fifth. He was reared in Louisville, and 
was apprenticed to the stone-cutting 
business, with a man named David Nevins, 
and after serving out his full term as an 
apprentice he did journeyman's work until 
the commencement of the civil war, when 
he entered the Union army, enlisting in 
Co. A, Fifteenth Kentucky Vol. Infantry, 
and was sworn into the State service, 
November 11, 1861, and into the United 
States service, December 14, 1861. After 
a long and hard service for his adopted 
country, he was discharged January 14, 
1865, and returned to Louisville, where he 
was married, February 14, 1865, to Miss 
Barbara E. Bosemer, born May 25, 1843, 
and a daughter of Valentine and Catherine 
Bosemer, both natives of Germany, who 
emigrated to America and settled in Louis- 
ville about 1848. Mr. and Mrs Elbert 
have had eight children as follows : Joseph 
V. born May 20, 1866; Elizabeth C, 
March 25, 1868 ; William H., September 
8, 1870; Theodore F., June 26, 1872; 
Maggie L., September 25, 1875; Agnes 
M., May 13, 1878; Henry B., August 28, 
1882, and Lorena, September 8, 1886. 

Mr. Elbert removed from Louisville, Ky., 
to Indiana, and settled in Harrison county, 
where, in partnership with his brothers, he 
bought a saw-mill. He afterward bought 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



141 



his brother's interest and is now sole owner, 
and has in connection with mill a large 
stave and lathe factory; also carries on a 
cooper shop in Brandenburg, Ky. In ad- 
dition to all this he owns 645 acres of fine 
land, and is one of the prosperous and 
highly esteemed citizens of the county. 



WILLIAM J. ELLIS, a native of Har- 
rison county, was born January 7, 1841, 
and is the son of Samuel and Emily (Lud- 
low) Ellis ; the former born January 2, 
1810, and died in Harrison county, in 
1845; Samuel Ellis was the son of Will- 
iam Ellis, and was a successful farmer, 
liberally educated, and a valuable citizen. 
The latter (his wife) was a daughter of 
James and Ehoda Ludlow. William J., 
the subject of this sketch, was the third in 
a family of five children. He was brought 
up on a farm in Boone township, this 
county, and received the best education 
afforded by the common schools of his 
county, He enlisted February 24, 1S62, 
in Co. D, Fifty-third Indiana Volunteer 



Infantry. He re-enlisted in the Veteran 
service February 24, 1864, and was mus- 
tered out of the United States service July 
21, 1865. He took part in all the hard 
service of his regiment, was in most of the 
battles, and followed its banners in all of 
its marches, which amounted in the aggre- 
gate to about 7,500 miles. He was with it 
in the following battles; Siege of Corinth, 
battle of Hatchie Biver, Seige of Vicksburg, 
battle of Jackson, Miss., Harrison, La., 
Meridian, Miss., Peach Tree Creek, Seige 
of Atlanta, battle of Savannah, Orange- 
burg, Braxton Bridge, Columbia, S. C, 
Bentonville and Raleigh, N. C, etc. The 
colonel of this regiment was Walter Q. 
Gresha:n. When peace was made, Mr. 
Ellis returned home and resumed the plow, 
which he had abandoned for the " tented 
field." He was married, Juno 29, 1865, to 
Sarah C. Evans, born in this county, 
December 28, 1840, and a daughter of 
Richard and Mahala (Brown) Evans. To 
them were born three children, as follows : 
Isaac J., June 7, 1866; Benjamin W., 
February 2, 1811; Edna M., May 23, 
1876. Mr. Ellis owns a farm of 1 16 acres 
of well improved land. 



142 



HARRISON COUNTY 



CAPT. JOSHUA P. FARNSLEY was 
born in Harrison comity, two and one-half 
miles southeast of Lanesville, August 21, 
1820, and is the third son of Joshua and 
Barbara (Stowers) Farnsley, natives of 
Kentucky and Virginia. The former was 
born at Bullitt's Station, a prominent place 
in the early settlement of Kentucky. 

His grandfather, James Farnsley, was 
from Fort Duquesne, and once owned 
"Braddock's Field." He left there about 
1770 and came to the Territory of Indiana, 
before Virginia ceded the Northwest Terri- 
tory to the United States, and bought a 
township of land near Terre Haute. 

He left Pennsylvania, to occupy the 
same. The Indians were becoming trouble- 
some on the west side of the Ohio ; he re- 
solved to stop at Louisville, Ky., then known 
as Bullitt's Station, and bought 160 acres 
of land, four and one-half miles from the 
present city limits, for nine shillings. He 
died on said land. The Farnsleys are of 
English origin; the great-grandmother of 
the subject was on the second ship that 
landed at Plymouth Rock — her name was 
Wright. 

Joshua Farnsley, subject's father, came 
to Harrison county in 1811, and received 
patents for a great deal of land — owned 
some three thousand acres. When he first 
settled in the county, he established the 
first tanyard and the first hat manufactory 
in the county, and various other enter- 
prises, among which was a blacksmithing 
establishment, a distillery, and was with- 
out doubt one of the most progressive and 
enterprising of pioneers. He died in 1869, 
and was about 80 years of age. 

Joshua P., the subject of this sketch, 
was reared on the farm, in tbe mill, tan- 
yard, and shops, and was, as he termed it, 
"Jack of all trades;" being a tanner he 
often sold sheepskin for to make ladies' 



calf, as there was no Yankee shoemakers ; 
they did not know the difference. His 
early education was limited — he says he 
got as far as the "rule of three." He has 
made a grand success in life, all through 
his own strong will and natural "old horse 
sense." 

He has been a close student, has read 
much, observed closely, and has become a 
ripe scholar, and well versed in history, 
politics, theology, etc. 

He was married February 6, 1846, to 
Miss Abigail Newman, a daughter of Caleb 
and Martha (Hancock) Newman, natives of 
Pennsylvania and North Carolina, who 
settled in Grassy Valley, Harrison county, 
Ind., in 1S07. 

In 1847 Capt. Farnsley was elected to 
the Lower House of the Legislature, and 
as a member of the Committee on Cor- 
porations. Although young, he took an 
active part, and introduced many bills. 
He was re-elected in 1852, and was chair- 
man of the Committee on Agriculture. He 
has been a school director, and was prom- 
inent in developing the school interest, in 
which he takes an especial pride. 

He has but one child living, Franklin R., 
born November 21, 1S52. 

He has bought a great deal of produce in 
the immediate neighborhood, and shipped 
to New Orleans and other Southern cities. 
In 1867 he built the "Red Rover" steamer, 
which he run for two years, and which cost 
$11,500. 

His son is first pilotof the steamer "Grand 
Republic," which carries the largest cotton 
cargoes of any steamer in the United States, 
from Memphis to New Orleans. He carries 
captain's license and has command over 
several boats. In 1841 subject traded so 
extensively on the Mississippi and tribu- 
taries, he could talk French and Spanish 
almost as fluently as English. 




A*hL^y (P 9 




SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



145 



He owns about 700 acres of very valuable 
land. He is a Democrat in politics and a 
free-trader. He was a delegate to National 
Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, in 
IS56, that nominated James Buchanan 
for the Presidency. Since he has devoted 
his time to agriculture, horticulture and 
pomology; he is an enthusiast in the 
culture of pears, and is at the present time 
planting an extensive orchard in Jackson's 
purchase, where he owns 400 acres of valu- 
able land, near Paducah, where he expects 
to ultimately make his home in peace with 
God and good- will with man. 



Locust Point, Harrison County, Ind., 
February 20, 1889. 
Publishers of the Souvenir: 

Being an intimate acquaintance of Capt. 
Joshua P. Farnsley since he left the high- 
lands and cast his lot on the Ohio river in 
the year 1837, I wish to bear testimony of 
his worth as a citrzen. 

He located on a small lot of land eight 
miles below New Albany, in the lower cor- 
ner of Floyd county (50 acres). He was 
host, cook and hustler for nine years ; drove 
oxen ; farmed all lands when cleared, 
plowing some with his oxen ; in summer 
sold wood to steamboats. 

In winter traded South, carrying pota- 
toes, cabbage, kraut and such articles as he 
could buy, making two trips between Octo- 
ber and last of March for nine years. Then 
he married the youngest daughter of Caleb 
Newman, a very prosperous and respect- 
able farmer of the neighborhood. Captain 
Farnsley has commanded the love and re- 
spect of his neighbors always. Kind, lib- 
eral and generous to a fault, aiding the in- 
digent, the widow and orphan, never losing 
an opportunity of contributions to their 



happiness. He organized a Sabbath-school 
in his vicinity, where such had never been 
dreamed of before, and where two to three 
saloons were the fixed institutions of the 
locality, and where drunkenness, gambling, 
fighting and manslaughter were the order 
of the Sabbath pastimes. But lo, the 
change ! where once the saloon, now the 
church and Sabbath- school flourish; the 
change is due to the enviable position and 
the bold stand for purification taken by 
Capt. J. P. Farnsley ; he spent more money 
for the good of others than for his own 
family. In religion he is a Free Thinker ; 
he takes no stock in professions — practice, 
to him, reveals the true worth of man. He 
is enjoying ripe age, beloved by all good 
people. Please add this note to the sketch 
of his life in your "Souvenir," and oblige 
one who desires to bear testimony to true 
worth. J. S. A. 



ISAAC FERREE was born January 18, 
1841, and is a son of James C. and Eliza- 
beth (Swasick) Ferree. The former was 
born in Louisiana about 1808 ; was reared 
on a farm, receiving a limited education ; 
the latter was a daughter of Richard and 
and Charity Swasick, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania. James C. died in Harrison coun- 
ty, February 2S, 1 873, and his wife died 
January 5, 18S4. Isaac, the subject of this 
sketch, was brought up on a farm and re- 
ceived a common-school education. He 
enlisted in Co. F, Twenty-third Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, July 10, 1861, and 
was discharged on account of expiration 
of term of service July 14, 1864, when 
he returned, and resumed farming. 

He was married November 6, 1867, to 
Miss Sarah P. Rusk, the daughter of Rob- 
ert, a native of Virginia, and Eliza Rusk, a 
native of Maryland. 



146 



HARRISON COUNTY 



Mr. and Mrs. Ferree have hail two chil- 
dren, viz : Charles E., born August 31, 
1868, and Clarence C, born August 5, 
1S70, and died September 22, 1871. 



ANDREW FIFE was born in Louisville, 
Ky., August 29, 1841, and is a son of John 
and Elizabeth (Wright) Fife ; the former a 
native of Indiana, and the latter of Ger- 
many, but came to America with her par- 
ents when quite young — she died in 1885, 
at an advanced age. The elder Fife, 
though a farmer, was also a river man and 
followed steamboating at intervals, and 
while his children were yet small he died 
suddenly of cholera. He married Eliza- 
beth Wright, and to them were born three 
children; of which Andrew, the subject, was 
eldest. He (Andrew), after the death of 
his father, secured a home with his un- 
cle, Henry C. Wright, where he continued 
to reside until he was grown, and thus 
was reared on a farm, receiving such edu- 
cation as the times afforded. When the 
war broke out he entered the service of the 
Government, and first was employed as a 
teamster. After following this branch of 
the service nearly a year, he returned home 
and enlisted in the 49th Regiment (3d In- 
diana Cavalry), Co. M, March 23,1862, 
and was discharged July 25, 1865, at 
the expiration of his term of service. 
Among the engagements he was in were : 
Greenville, Tenn., Chickamauga, Macon, 
Ga., Marietta, Louisville, Ga., Savannah, 
Goldsboro, N. C, and went with Sherman 
in his "March to the Sea;" was one of 
Sherman's escort at the surrender of Col. 
Joe Johnson. After the close of the war 
he returned to his home in Harrison coun- 



ty, and resumed the plow. He was mar- 
ried October 22, 1867, to Miss Elizabeth 
Brower, a daughter of Solomon Brower, 
formerly of Hamilton county, Ohio, and 
was born December 6, 1846. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Fife were born eight children, as fol- 
lows : Stella, April 3, 1869; Annie, Jan- 
uary 27, 1871; William J., November 15, 
1S73 ; Charles, December 22, 1876 , Perry, 
Januaryl3, 1880; Alice, March 20, 1882; 
John, April 23, 1884, and Alvey, January 
4, 1888. Annie died April 12, 1871, and 
William J. died December 31, 1873. Mr. 
Fife is a well respected citizen and a thor- 
ough and prosperous farmer. 



ABRAHAM FLESHMAN, a prominent 
farmer of Washington township, Harrison 
county, Ind. was born September 19, 1825, 
and is a son of Ephraim and Rosanna (Son- 
ner) Fleshman, natives of Virginia. The 
former emigrated to Kentucky in 1804, 
where he lived two years, then removed to 
Harrison county, where the remainder of 
his life was spent. He raised a family of 
five children,of which Abraham, the subject, 
was the third. In 1850 Mr. Fleshman was 
married to Miss Mary Jane Burford, a na- 
tive of Indiana. They have had six chil- 
dren, viz : George W., Lyman S., Simon 
E., Arthur C, Charles L. and Aquilla D. 
George W. and Simon E. are dead ; Lyman 
S. is a merchant at Mauckport; Arthur C. 
is a teacher ; Charles L. is attending school 
at Lebanon, and Aquilla is at home on the 
farm. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fleshman are consistent 
members of the Methodist Church at 
Mauckport. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



14? 



HENRY CLAY FOUTS, M. D., was born 
at Bradford, Harrison county, Ind., Octo- 
ber 21, 1843. After attaining a good com- 
mon-school education, in 1864 he began 
the study of medicine under Dr. Joseph 
Ellis, of Bradford. He attended his first 
course of medical lectures at the Miami 
College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated 
from the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Louisville, March 4, 1870. 

In the following year begun the practice 
in Orange county, Ind., and a year later 
removed to Lanesville where he has suc- 
ceeded in building up a very fine practice. 

He has been twice married ; in 1865, Oc- 
tober 8, to Miss Lizzie Ellis, daughter of 
Dr. John Ellis, of Hardinsburg, Washing- 
ton county, Ind. Her death occurred in 
1881, leaving him three children: Carrie 
M., Charles V. and Iola E. His second 
wife, Miss Ella Cravens, to whom he was 
married June 12, 1887, is a daughter of 
James A. Cravens, a prominent farmer and 
an ex-Congressmen residing near Hardins- 
burg. 

Dr. Fouts' father was David Fouts, a 
North Carolinian by birth, and came to 
Harrison county in 1816. He was born 
in 1803 and died in 1883. His mother was 
a Miss Belinda Burns. His farm of 225 
acres, near Hardinsburg, is fine and well 
improved land. 



HARVEY FRAKES was born in this 
county January 27, 1 824, and is a son of 
Conrad and Margaret (Prestland) Frakes, 
natives of Indiana and Kentucky respec- 
tively; the former died here in 1836, and 
his widow in 1863. Harvey Frakes, whose 
name stands at the head of this sketch, 
was the youngest of nine children born to 



his parents. His early life was spent on 
the farm, and he attended the schools of 
the neighborhood. At the age of fourteen 
he was apprenticed to John Frakes, his 
elder brother, to learn the cooper's trade. 
He served out his time and followed the 
business, together with farming, until 
reaching manhood, when on the 23d of 
August, 1849, he was married to Miss Ella 
Lemmon, a daughter of Elias and Mary 
(Fando) Lemmon, the former an Indian- 
ian and the latter a Kentuckian, Elias 
Lemmon followed flatboatiug a good deal, 
and in December, 1847, he fell from a flat- 
boat below Baton Rouge, La., and was 
drowned. His widow died in April, 1863. 
In December, 1S61, Harvey Frakes en- 
listed in Co. K, Fifty-ninth Volunteer In- 
fantry. He veteranized in 1863, and 
served until the close ot the war, being dis- 
charged July 17, 1865. He then returned 
home and resumed farming. Mr. and 
Mrs. Frakes have had ten children, as fol- 
lows : Mary S., Martha E., Sarah C, Emma 
L.,Ra!phE., Anna B., Ola M., Ada L., Sue 
K. and Otto M., all of whom are living. 



JOHN A. FRAVEL was born in this 
(Harrison) county March 13, 1824, and 
is a son of William and Elizabeth 
(Weaver) Fravel, both natives of Virginia, 
and from Shenandoah county. They came 
to Indiana and settled in Harrison county 
in the latter part of 1824, when subject 
was but an infant. The elder Fravel was a 
blacksmith by trade, and carried on a shop 
here for years, and also followed farming 
to some extent. 

John A., the subject of this sketch, was 
reared on a farm and educated in the com- 
mon schools, which were then not nearly 



148 



HARRISON COUNTY 



, so thorough as they are now. He was 
married June 26, 1856, to Eeheeca Duley, 
a daughter of John and Rehecca Duley, 
natives of Kentucky. They have had seven 
children, viz: Mary E., William E., John 
Henry, Charles E., CoraE., James W. and 
Nora A. The three eldest Mary, William 
and John, are married. Mr. Fravel owns 
160 acres of well improved land. 

He raises considerable stock and also 
devotes some attention to stock-raising. 
He is a member of the United Brethren 
Church. 



JOHN L. FRANK, a farmer and fruit 
grower of Washington township, was born in 
Harrison county, Aug.14, 1827, and is a son 
of George and Catherine (Hardsaw) Frank, 
and is a grandson of Martin Frank, one of 
the prominent pioneers of the county, com- 
ing in 1812 from Rowan county, North 
Carolina, where he was born. His mater- 
nal grandfather, John Hardsaw, was a na- 
tive of the same county in North Carolina, 
and came to this county in 1809, locating 
on a farm in Washington township, where 
he continued to farm till his death in 1858. 
George Frank was born in North Carolina, 
was a hatter by trade, but soon gave up work 
at his trade after coming to the county, 
choosing farming as an occupation, and con- 
tinued up to his death in 1851. He reared 
a family of eleven children. Julia A., Eliza, 
Wm. T., Catherine and Ambrose are de- 
ceased. Ambrose was surgeon in 66th In- 
diana Vols., and was killed before Atlanta 
August 11, 186+. John L., Andrew J., 
Martin and George W. are the living chil- 
dren. John L. Frank was married to Mar- 
garet Brandenburg, a daughter of David 
Brandenburg, a member of a prominent 
Kentucky family, and settled in Harrison 
county from that State many years ago. 



Mr. and Mrs. Frank have had born to them 
fifteen children, of whom ten are living: J. 
C. (a lawyer at York, Neb.), Belle, Charles 
F. (lawyer at Hollyoke, Cal.), Abraham 
L., Wallace, Anna, Hannah, Catherine, 
Jno. L. and Amanda G. 

Mr. Frank has held the office of township 
assessor for two terms. He was a member 
in the original organization of the school 
board, and served as clerk in that body for 
two consecutive terms, and for the congres- 
sional district organization he also served 
two years. From 1865 to 1869, Mr. Frank 
held the office of township trustee. He is 
a member of I. 0. 0. F., No. 629 Lodge New 
Amsterdam, and is a member of Knights 
of Honor Lodge No. 506, at New Amster- 
dam, and is member of the M. E. Church. 
A Republican in politics. His farm con- 
tains 160 acres 60 acres of which being 
in a fruit orchard 



COL. GEORGE W. FRIEDLEY, Attor- 
ney for Louisville, New Albany & Chi- 
cago Railroad, was born in Harrison 
county, Indiana, on January 1, 1840. He 
was a son of John M. and Sophia (Thestund) 
Friedley. His father was a farmer, of 
German descent, and emigrated from Ken- 
tucky to Indiana in 1816. George W. 
Friedley received his early education in the 
ordinary schools of Harrison county, and 
afterward at the Hartsville University, from 
which he graduated at the age of twenty, 
after taking a full scientific course. On 
leaving the University he commenced read- 
ing law with Judge John R. Morrledge, of 
Clorinda, Iowa. After studying two years, 
the war breaking out, he entered the army 
as a private in Co. K, 4th Iowa Infantry. 
He was immediately elected first lieutenant 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



149 



and served one year, when he was compelled 
to resign on account of ill health, re- 
turning to Indiana. In May, 1S62, his 
health having considerably improved, he 
entered the 67th Indiana Infantry, was 
elected captain of Co. I of that regi- 
ment, and from that time was actively en- 
gaged until the close of the war, serving 
with distinction throughout. During the 
forty-seven days' seige at Vieksburg he 
served on the staff of Gen. Burbridge of 
Kentucky. After the fall of Vieksburg he 
was at the capture of Jackson. The Thir- 
teenth Army Corps, to which he belonged, 
was then, transferred to the Army of the 
Gulf. At the close of the Vieksburg cam- 
paign the colonel of the regiment was mus- 
tered out on account of absence, and Capt. 
Friedley, although the youngest captain 
in the regiment, was elected in his 
place. The colonel afterward returning, 
however, was reinstated. He was then on 
the Gulf, in the Red River campaign, at 
the seige and capture of Fort Gaines and 
Fort Blakely, the last pitched battle of the 
war, April 9, 1865; a consequence of the 
fall was the capture of Mobile. He then, 
with the regiment, marched to Texas, and 
was mustered out at the close of the war, 
in August following. He returned to In- 
diana in the fall, and settled at Bedford in 
the practice of law, where he remained up 
to 1884, when he was appointed to his 
present important position, and has since 
resided at Lafayette, Ind., and has since 



given his entire time to the road. Col. 
Freidley was noted as one of the most cele- 
brated commercial lawyers in Indiana. In 
1870 he was elected to the lower house of 
the Legislature and served on the 
Judiciary Committee of the House during 
that session. With others, he induced thirty- 
four members to resign, thereby frustrating 
a measure brought by the Democratic 
party to defeat Governor Morton. In 1872 
he was elected to the Senate, over Judge 
Frank Wilson, deceased, for Monroe and 
Lawrence counties, designated "the Univer- 
sity District." At the special sessions of the 
Legislature convened in the November fol- 
lowing, there being a vacancy in the office 
of Lieutenant Governor, he was elected 
President of the Senate. He served 
through a term of four years as Senator. 
In the campaign of 1876 he was chairman 
of the Republican State Central Committee, 
and in 1880 delegate at large at the Chi- 
cago Convention. In politics he was an ar- 
dent Republican. In person he presented 
an imposing appearance, being six feet 
three inches in height and well built and 
proportioned. He was a ready speaker. 
He was married January 16, 1867, to Miss 
Edith M. Kelly, daughter of one of the 
oldest and most prominent merchants of 
Bedford; They had four daughters. Such 
is the history of one of Indiana's truly 
representative men. His death occur- 
red at Bloomington, Ind., in February, 
1889. 



150 



HARRISON COUNTY 



MAJOR WETHERFORD FUNK is a son 
of Reuben and Lucinda (Spencer) Funk, 
and was born October 29, 1849. His father 
was of German descent, was a farmer by oc- 
cupation, a man of sterling traits of character 
and moral worth, always taking advanced 
ground upon questions of agricultural pur- 
suits and educational questions, was of the 
old Virginia stock, his parents having emi- 
grated from that State directly to Indiana 
in its early history. 

His mother, Lucinda Spencer, was of 
English descent, and daughter of James 
Spencer, Esq., who was prominent in the 
j)olitical history of his county and State, 
and was a leading farmer of his time. 

The subject of this sketch, Hon. M. W. 
Funk, was reared upon -the old homestead 
in Crawford county, Ind., and spent his 
early life upon the farm, and engaged in 
agricultural pursuits and attending the 
common schools of his native county until, 
at the age of 17, he began to teach in the 
common schools. But early in life such 
taste was displayed for literary pursuits, 
that at the age of 18 he quit the farm and 
used the means procured as teacher to de- 
fray the necessary expenses of a collegiate 
education, and at once entered the State 
University at Bloomington, and completed in 
that institution the Select Literary Course 
and graduated from the Law Department, 
with honor and distinction, in the year 1 S75. 
In debt for part of the money spent in his 
education, but not discouraged, young Funk 
was, immediately after graduating, admitted 
to the bar at Corydon, Ind., and earnestly 
entered upon the practice of his chosen 
profession, that of the Law. By hard work 
and close application he rose rapidly into 
public favor and distinction at the bar, 
until, in 1882, he was nominated by the 
Democratic party, on sharp competition, 
for Prosecuting Attorney of the Third Judi- 



cial Circuit of Indiana, and was elected to 
that office by a handsome majority, and 
nominated and re-elected in 1884. 

In this office Mr. Funk found a fine field 
in which to display the gift of oratory and 
natural and acquired ability as a lawyer 
that he is so well known to possess ; often 
times in the important criminal cases of 
that period being pitted alone against the 
ablest advocates of the district and State, 
but always fearless in the discharge of his 
official duty, able in debate, resolute and 
courageous in action, has been unusually 
successful in the prosecution of criminals. 
And when he retired from that ^office in 
1886, he had won for himself a reputation 
as a lawyer that placed him at once at the 
head of the profession in the district and 
State, and now holds a high place in the 
esteem and confidence of all good people. 

Mr. Funk is now a member of the bar 
of the Supreme Court of Indiana and the 
United States District Court, and enjoys a 
large and lucrative practice in his own and 
other district courts of Southern Indiana, 
and Louisville, Ky. 

Until after the election of 1876, Mr. 
Funk was in politics a Republican; but, 
what he terms, the Presidential steal of 
that year caused him to change his poli- 
tics, and is now and has been since that 
year prominent in Democrat councils, al- 
ways taking an active part in the canvass 
upon the stump. His name is now the 
only one prominently mentioned for Judge 
of the Third Judicial Circuit of Indiana, as 
the successor of Hon. Wm. T. Zenor. 

His eminent and admirable qualifications 
and fitness for this high and honorable po- 
sition, as well as the fact that he will be 
nominated and elected, is now generally 
conceded. 

He was married on the 18th of June, 
1876, to Miss Annice C. Wyman, of Mar- 



- . *j^S«^ 








7 /ry^c^^^YK^> 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



153 



tinsburg, Washington county, Ind., a lady 
of rare attainments and social worth. 

They, with their daughter Fannie, aged 
10 years, own and occupy the most elegant 
and newly furnished residence in the beau- 
tiful little town of Corydon, their adopted 
home. 



DE. ZACHARY T. FUNK, born June 
29, 1S47, in Crawford county, Ind. His 
parents, Reuben and Lucinda Spencer 
Funk, were also natives of Crawford coun- 
ty, the father being a farmer. The family 
was originally from Virginia, migrated 
from that State to Kentucky, thence to 
Indiana. 

Dr. Z. T. Funk, after receiving a com- 
mon-school education in the neighborhood 
in which he was born and reared, attended 
the State University to junior year, and 
graduated from Ohio State Normal College, 
at Lebanon Ohio, Business College. 

He studied medicine under Dr. Hazel- 
wood, of Valeene, Orange county, Ind., 
graduating from the Kentucky School of 
Medicine in 1876. 

He began the practice of his profession 
in Dubois county. He removed to 
Georgetown, Floyd county, and from 
there to Harrison county, in 1877, practic- 
ing his profession at Elizabeth for ten 
years. 

In November, 1886, he was elected 
treasurer of Harrison county, as a Pie- 
publican, over Patrick Griffin, by 126 
majority, and served in that capacity for 
two years. 

He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., high- 
ly esteemed for his abilities in the medical 
profession, very popular among the people, 
and a faithful, competent public official. 

In 1877 Dr. Funk was united in mar- 



riage to Miss Mary Summers, of George- 
town, Floyd county, Ind. 

He was a member of Company F, Fifty- 
ninth Indiana Infantry, during the war of 
the Rebellion, enlisting in 1864 and serv- 
ing until the close of the war. He was in 
the battle of Kinston, N. C, and in a num- 
ber of small engagements. 



JAMES R. FUNK, lawyer, was born in 
Crawford county, Ind., December 30, 1847, 
and is a son of John J. and Nancy (Spencer) 
Funk, the latter a daughter of James Spen- 
cer, of South Carolina, and a pioneer of Indi- 
ana. The subject's paternal grandfather, 
John Funk, was a Virginian, and settled in 
Crawford county, Ind., in a very early day. 
James R., the subject of this sketch, was 
reared on the farm until 15 years old, when 
he enlisted in the Sixth Indiana Regiment, 
as a private. The regiment was known as 
the "Border Guards," and was out on 
duty some six months. Mr. Funk received 
a liberal education. After taking a com- 
mercial course at Lebanon, Ohio, he en- 
tered the State University, at Blooming- 
ton, where he spent two years, and one 
year in the law department, from which 
he graduated in 1876, in law. He began 
practice at once at Fredericksburg, Ind., 
where he remained about six years, then re- 
moved to Corydon and formed a copartner- 
ship with Mr. Major W. Funk. They 
have one of the finest and best furnished law 
offices in the State of Indiana, and have a 
large and lucrative practice. Mr. Funk 
was married in 1S76, to Miss Ella House, 
of North Lewisburg, Ohio. They have 
four children. He is a member of the 
Masonic order, and a staunch member of 
the Republican party. 



154 



HARRISON COUNTY 



W. E. FUNKHOUSER, an influential 
farmer of Heath township, is a descendant 
of good old Virginian families. He was 
born in Harrison county April 7, 1850. 
His parents, David and Malinda Funk- 
houser (nee Wiseman), were both born in 
Harrison county, and the father of David 
Fuukhouser was among the earliest set- 
tlers in the county, coming as early as 1S15 
from Virginia, and here combined farming 
and blacksmithing as his vocation which he 
continued till his death in 1829. 

David Funkhouser was born in 1810; is 
one of the leading farmers of the county. 
He stands well as a citizen and is a lead- 
ing member in the Christian Church. His 
maternal grandfather, William Wiseman, 
also a Virginian by birth, and located in 
the county about 1819 ; he was a leading 
farmer of his day and a consistent mem- 
ber of the M. E. Church. His death occurred 
in 1863. 

Wm. E. Funkhouser was reared on the 
farm, educated in the schools of the 
county, and was married in 1881 to Miss 
Bessie, daughter of Thomas Frank, a prom- 
inent farmer of the county, a member of 
the M. E. Church. Mr. Frank's death oc- 
curred in 1879. Of this marriage four chil- 
dren are living : Frank, Elmer, Belle and 
Bose. 

Mr. Funkhouser's farm of 150 acres is 
located three miles northwest of Mauck- 
port, where he resides. He is a member 
of the Congregational Church, and is also 
a member of the Knights of Honor. 



E. A. GBABLE was born in Harrison 
county, Ind., July 10, 1834, and is a son 
of David Grable, who was born in Virginia 
in 1818, came to this coimty among the 



earliest settlers. His mother, Patie French, 
was also a native of Virginia, and received 
but limited educational advantages. All 
the education David Grable received was 
at a little log school-house close to Cory- 
don. The subject, E. A. Grable, was raised 
on a farm and has followed it all his life. 
He pays considerable attention to stock- 
raising, viz : horses, mules and hogs. He 
was married March 8, 1861, to Miss L. C. 
Peters, bom and raised in the county, and 
a daughter of Frederick and Caroline Pe- 
ters. They have three children living: 
Benjamin H., Joan H. and Ada L. Mr. 
Grable owns 170 acres of fine farming 
land which he has well improved ; has a 
good residence and fine barn. He is an 
earnest Christian, and both he and his wife 
are members of the Methodist Church. He 
is an honest and enterprising citizen. 



COL. BEN. Q. A. GBESHAM, a brother 
of Judge Walter Q. Gresham and a hero of 
two wars, was born on a farm near the vil- 
lage of Lanesville, Harrison county, Ind., 
September 21, 1826. He grew to man- 
hood on the farm, and received a knowl- 
edge of the text books taught in the country 
schools of that day. In June, 1846, he en- 
listed in Co. I, of the Second Indiana In- 
fantry, Mexican army, and was elected or- 
derly of his company. He was discharged 
in June, 1847, having enlisted for one year. 
He fought with his regiment at the battle 
of Buena Vista. At the expiration of his 
service in the army he returned home and 
learned the millwright and carpenter busi- 
ness. In connection with his farming inter- 
est he continued in these callings until the 
breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861. In 
July of that year, he joined Co, B, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



155 



3d Indiana Cavalry, as a private soldier. 
In the following month he was elected first 
lieutenant of his company. He ar- 
rived with his company at Washington 
City, September 3, 1S61, and was imme- 
diately ordered to Virginia, thence to 
Maryland, and subsequently ordered to 
Mill Stone Landing on the Pulaski river, 
and while there was engaged in picket duty 
and scouting and was very successful in cap- 
turing military stores, cavalry horses, etc. 
At this point Col. Gresham was promoted 
to the captaincy of his company. He par- 
ticipated with his company in the battles 
of Antietam, Chancellorsville, and at the 
last battle he was severely wounded. After 
being restored to health he was transferred 
to the Cavalry Bureau and remained in that 
department during the winters of 1863 and 
1864. Here, in the latter year, he received 
two promotions — Major and, later, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel of the 10th Ind. Cavalry, and 
was assigned to duty at Pulaski, Tenn. He 
was engaged in all the battles of that sec- 
tion, and on the 17th of December, 1864-, 
was again wounded near Franklin, Tenn. 
His final discharge from the army was at 
Cincinnati the day President Lincoln was 
assassinated. Such are the salient points 
in Col. Gresham's military career. He was 
married to Miss Sarah Harbison, of the 
county, in October, 1S52, and they have six 
children : Lucy, Annie, Oscar, Amy, Joyce 
and Jonathan W. 

Col. Gresham is the son of William and 
Sarah (Davis) Gresham. His father, Will- 
iam Gresham was bom in Kentucky, and 
removed to the county in 1806, and, while 
performing his duties as Sheriff of the 
county, was killed February 17, 1833. His 
maternal grandfather was an uncle of Jef- 
ferson Davis, ex-President of the Southern 
Confederacy. Col. Gresham has been un- 
able for work since the war, from the 



wounds he received. He is at present 
holding the office of Township Assessor of 
his township. 



GEORGE K. GWARTNEY, editor of the 
Corydon Democrat, was born at Mauckport, 
Harrison county, Ind., July 7, 1855. 

His parents, Robert and Mary Sherman, 
Gwartney, were both natives of Harrison 
county, Ind. Both his grandfathers, Will- 
iam Gwartney and Jacob Sherman, were 
Virginians and among the early settlers of 
Harrison county. 

His father was engaged on the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers, and is dead. 

George K. Gwartney left home when but 
fifteen years old, and started out in the 
world to hew his own fortune, working for 
a time on a farm for $10 a month. He 
was educated in the schools at Corydon, 
afterward taking a course at the Indiana 
University. To obtain an education and 
afterward enable himself to study law, 
he taught school in the winter and went to 
school in the summer. 

He read law with Stockslager & 
Douglass, at Corydon, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1880. The same year he took 
charge of the Corydon Democrat with Hon. 
S. M. Stockslager (now Commissioner of 
the General Land Office), on his election to 
Congress, and soon after purchased the 
office. At the time of the purchase he 
had but $50 in money and incurred a debt 
of $1000; this debt he discharged by pay- 
ments, and has his newspaper clear of en- 
cumbrance, and a good deal of valuabla 
real and personal property besides. 

Mr. Gwartney was elected Prosecutiug 
Attorney of the Third Judicial District in 
November, 1887, and served in that office 
for two years. 



156 



HARRISON COUNTY 



His paper, the Corydon Democrat, is the 
oldest newspaper in Harrison county, and 
enjoys a large circulation and profitable 
patronage. It was founded in 1856 by 
Hon. Simon K. Wolfe, ex-member of Con- 
gress, and has always wielded a wide influ- 
ence, both politically and in local affairs. 

On May 10, 1883, Mr. Gwartney was 
united in marriage to Miss Kittie Wolfe, 
daughter of Dr. H. S. Wolfe, of New 
Albany, Ind. His wife died in 1885. 



HENEY HAYS was born October 20, 
1824, in Harrison county, and is a son of 
James and Maria (Faith) Hays ; the former 
a native of England, and who came to the 
United States in 1803, locating in Pittsburgh, 
where he remained for five years; in 1808 
came to Harrison county, locating on a 
farm, continuing the same to the end of his 
life, in 1851, at the age of 66 years. 

His wife (mother of subject) was a native 
of Kentucky, and came to Indiana with her 
parents in 1808, when but eight years old. 
She was a daughter of Henry Faith, a 
carpenter and farmer. 

Henry, the subject of this sketch, was 
reared on the f arm and received a common- 
school education. 

In 1846 he was married to Miss Eliza- 
beth Beanblossom, a daughter of Philip 
and Frances (Love) Beanblossom. They 
have six children, four boys and two girls, 
viz : Philip B., Zack T., Henry C, Daniel 
W., Lucy J. and Anna C. Henry C. is 
married to Miss Stella Bean, of this county, 
and is a lawyer at Corydon ; Daniel W. is 
married to Miss Mary J. Lopp, and is a 
practicing physician in Kansas. Mr. Hays 
was captain of Co. I, of the Sixth Indiana 
Legion, and was engaged actively with Gen. 



Morgan when he made his raid through 
this State in 1863. His first lieutenant 
was killed in one of the skirmishes with the 
bold Confederate raider. 

Capt. Hays, son of Philip, enlisted in the 
144th Infantry, and served with it until it 
was mustered out. Capt. Hays has two 
farms in this county ; the one on which he 
lives contains 270 acres of choice land and 
in a fine state of cultivation ; the other has 
134 acres. He is one of the most prosper- 
ous farmers, and is always foremost in 
everything calculated to promote the pros- 
perity of the community in which he lives. 



DENNIS HICKMAN was born in Floyd 
county, Ind., October 5, 1813, and is a son 
of James and Elizabeth (Cicloff ) Hickman ; 
the former, a native of Virginia, emigrated 
to Indiana and settled in Floyd county in 
1808, among the earliest settlers of the 
county ; the latter, Elizabeth Cicloff Hick- 
man, was born in North Carolina, and was 
a daughter of Philip Cicloff, who came to 
Indiana in 1817. Dennis Hickman, the 
subject of this sketch, was reared on the 
farm, and received but a limited educa- 
tion in the schools of the time. He par- 
ticipated in the Morgan raid, when the 
rebel General Morgan essayed to capture 
the "Northern Confederacy," and crossed 
the Ohio rivfr, at Brandenburg, Ky., for 
the purpose of "carrying the war into Af- 
rica." Mr. Hickman was with the gallant 
Home Guards that pursued the Confederate 
chieftain through Indiana and Ohio, and 
assisted in his final capture. He was mar- 
ried in 1840, to Miss Lucy Engleman, a 
daughter of Jacob Engleman, of Floyd 
county. They have eight children, viz : 
Levi, Ephraim, Eliphat, Mary Elizabeth, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



157 



Annie M., Martha A., Sallie C, and Ja- 
cob. Mr. Hickman has a fine farm of 
400 acres of finely improved land, 150 of 
which is in cultivation. He is engaged ex- 
tensively in stock-raising, and is a prosper- 
ous farmer and a worthy and exemplary 
citizen. Both he and his wife are earnest 
members of the Lutheran Church. 



PHILIP HICKMAN, a brother to Den- 
nis Hickman above mentioned, is a son of 
James and Elizabeth (Cicloff) Hickman, 
and was born in Floyd county, May 29, 
1817, natives of the "Old Dominion" and 
of North Carolina, and early emigrants to 
Indiana. The subject of this sketch, Philip 
Hickman, was brought up on the farm, 
with but limited educational advantages, 
the common school system then being in 
its infancy. He was married in 1840 to 
Miss Elizabeth Burkharcit, a daughter of 
Jacob and Catherine Burkhardt, born and 
reared in Harrison county. They have five 
children — two at home and three married, 
and battling with the world for themselves. 
Mr. Hickman owns a fine farm of 267 
acres, highly improved, 200 acres of which 
is under cultivation. He makes 'a specialty 
of stock-raising, viz : horses, cattle, sheep 
and hogs. He is an excellent farmer and 
upright and honorable man and a prosper- 
ous citizen. 



WARFORD HICKMAN was born in 
Floyd county, June 29, 1820, and is a son 
of James and Elizabeth (Cicloff) Hickman. 
He is a brother of Dennis and Philip Hick- 
man, whose sketches see for further an- 
cestral history. Mr. Hickman, the subject 
of this sketch, was reared on the farm, and, 



like his brothers, received but limited edu- 
cational advantages. He was married in 
November, 1S44, to Nancy Ross, a daugh- 
ter of John Ross, of Floyd county, but a 
native of Virginia and a prominent 
farmer. They had nine children, as fol- 
lows : Martin, Lavina, Phoebe, Andrew J., 
Preston, Mary A., Philip, Harvey and El- 
len. Through fatal sickness in 1864, he lost 
wife and five children within a few weeks ; 
another son died at his post of duty in the 
Union army, during the late civil war. He 
married a second time, in 1865, to Adaline 
Foster, a daughter of William and Dorcas 
Foster, born and raised in Harrison coun- 
ty. This union resulted in three children, 
viz: Albert C, Lydia E. and Joseph. 
His v\ife died, and he married again Decem- 
ber 18, 1885, to Catherine Battles, a daugh- 
ter of William Battles. She was born and 
reared in the county, as were her parents. 
Mr. Hickman owns a valuable farm of 200 
acres of land. It is well improved, and 
in an excellent state of cultivation. He 
raises stock, principally horses and cattle, 
and devotes some attention also to raising 
hogs. 



LEVI HICKMAN was born March 1, 
1847, and is a son of Dennis and Lucy 
(Engleman) Hickman, whose sketch is 
given, and which see for family history. 
He was brought up on his father's farm, 
and received a common' school education. 
He was a member of Home Guards, and 
took part in the pursuit and capture of the 
rebel Gen. John Morgan when he made his 
raid into Indiana and Ohio during the late 
war. In 1879, he was married to Miss 
Cornelia Davis, a daughter of Thomas and 
Lavina Davis ; the former was born in Ken- 
tucky, March 1808, and in 1816, came to 
this county; the latter, Lavina Davis, 



158 



HARRISON COUNTY 



was bom in Harrison county, Inch, Febru- 
ary 11, 1819. Mr. and Mrs. Hickman 
have two children, viz : Ethel E. and Guy 
R., aged respectively nine and five years. 
Mr. Hickman owns a farm of 160 acres of 
good land, which he has well improved, and 
has it under an excellent state of cultiva- 
tion. He pays considerable attention to 
raising fine stock. 

The Hickman farms are among the very 
finest in Harrison county and the Hick- 
man brothers are among the most proper- 
ous and successful farmers in the county. 



CHARLES L. HILDEBRAND was born 
in York county, Pa., January 30, 1831, 
and is a son of John and Emily (Schultz) 
Hildebrand, natives of Pennsylvania and 
of German origin. The former came to 
New Albany in 1837, and soon after re- 
moved to Lanesville where he spent the re- 
mainder of his life. Charles L., the sub- 
ject, was reared in Lanesville and educated 
in the common schools. For forty years 
he has been engaged in the milling busi- 
ness — flour mill and saw mill. He owns 
the Elizabeth Mills, which have a capacity 
of from sixty to seventy barrels of flour a 
day. The building is 40x60 feet, and three 
stories high. It was fitted up at an ex- 
pense of about $17,000. Mr. Hildebrand 
was married in 1853 to Miss Sarah Hand, 
of Floyd county, Ind. They have seven 
children living and three dead. He owns 
several farms in the county. He belongs 
to the Masonic fraternity, to the Odd Fel- 
lows and the Knights of Honor. He is a 
pushing, energetic and prosperous business 
man and a prominent and influential citi- 
zen. 



GEORGE HILT, a farmer, was born in 
Germany, June, 20, 1813. He is a son 
of John and Kate Hilt, they both being 
Germans. Refore emigrating to this coun- 
try George served a term of six years in 
the German army, with great credit. In 
1845 he landed in America, and after a few 
months he settled in Harrison county, Ind. 
He received a limited education and is 
now considered one of the most reliable 
farmers in that locality. In the year 
1837 he was married to Lizzie Keller, who 
is also of German parentage. Unto them 
were born six children : Henry, William, 
Kate, Mary, John and Lewis. Mr. Hilt 
owns a large farm of 227 acres, and raises 
some of the finest stock in the State. He 
is a member in good standing of the Lu- 
theran Church. 



WALDO H1SEY, liveryman, and one of 
the progressive young men of Corydon, is 
a son of William and Susan (Ogle) Hisey, 
both born in Harrison county. William 
Hisey was bom in 1818, and died in 1884 ; 
was twice elected treasurer of the county 
previous to the war. His father was a 
Virginian by birth, and was among the 
first settlers in the county. Waldo Hisey's 
maternal grandparents emigrated to the 
county from Pennsylvania, and were also 
among the first settlers. Waldo Hisey 
was born in Harrison county May 28,1860, 
and for some years was engaged at Cory- 
don in the mercantile business. In 18 S8 
he opened out in the livery business. 



JACOB S. HORNER, M. D., was bom 
near Charlestown, Clark county, Ind., Oc- 
tober 1, 1826, and is the son of John and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHEa 



159 



Margaret (Whitehead) Horner, the former 
a native of Miami county, 0., whose father, 
Jacob Horner, came to Indiana in 1813, 
and located on the Blue river, twenty-three 
miles from New Albany, on the Vincennes 
Road. He kept a "house of entertainment" 
there at the crossing, and carried on farm- 
ing extensively. Margaret Whitehead Hor- 
ner's father, Arthur Whitehead, was a 
slave-holder in North Carolina, liberated 
his slaves and came to Indiana in 1813. 
Some of the slaves refused to be set free, 
and came to Indiana and remained with 
him as long as they lived. He located on 
the Blue river about six miles from the 
present town of Fredericksburg. 

Jacob S., the subject of this sketch, at- 
tended the common schools until he was 18 
years old, when he entered Asbury Uni- 
versity at Greencastle, Ind., but left there 
while in the freshman's class on ac- 
count of his father's death. He conducted 
the farm for three years, and then com- 
menced reading medicine with Dr. John S. 
DuKate, who was then practicing medicine 
at Fredericksburg, but is now at Wheatland, 
Ind. In the winter of 1853-54, he attended 
a course of lectures at Kentucky School of 
Medicine, Louisville, Ky., after which he 
returned home and began practice at 
Lanesville in the spring of 1855. He con- 
tinued there until the spring of 1863, when 
he was commissioned assistant surgeon of 
Fifty-third Ind. Vols. In March, 1865, he 
was promoted surgeon of the regiment, in 
which capacity he remained until he was 
mustered out of the service in July, 1865. 
He was with Sherman in his "march to 
the sea." After the close of the war he re- 
turned home and resumed practice, which 
has actively continued ever since. Dr. 
Homer was married in 1848 to Miss Nancy 
Sensency, of Palmyra, Ind. They have 
six children living, viz : Francis Asbury, 



John W., Charles William, Jacob Walter, 
Agnes May and Eliza Jane. The eldest, 
Francis Asbury, is a graduate of the Asbury 
University, and is a practicing lawyer at 
Clay City, Ind. John W. attended the 
Asbury University and the State University 
until the end of his junior year, when he 
entered Yale College, graduating from the 
Divinity School in 1876. On his way home 
he visited the Centennial Exposition at 
Philadelphia, and during the fall following 
he took charge of three Congregational 
churches in Iowa. He remained in this 
work for three years, and was then called 
to Michigan, and a year later to Lake 
City, Minn. In the fall of 1887 he joined 
the Methodist Episcopal Conference of Illi- 
nois. Charles William attended the com- 
mon schools and spent two years at the 
Bloomington State University. He then 
went to Dakota, where he took up a claim, 
paid for it in two years, returned to Indiana 
and married at Bloomington; farmed for 
three years near Bloomington. He now 
lives in Kansas. Walter W. attended the 
common schools, and spent three years as 
book-keeper in Minneapohs and New York 
City. Agnes May married Robert T. Ben- 
son, a farmer near Lanesville. Eliza Jane 
married Dr. Wm. H. Butler, of Columbus, 
Ind. Dr. Horner owns a very prolific fruit 
farm of thirty-seven acres. It is situated 
on a high place, where'the fruit crop never 
fails. 



JAMES JENKINS was bom in Hardin 
county, Ky., Dec. 31, 1839, and is the son 
of James A. and Susan (Irwine) Jenkins. 
They emigrated to Harrison county, Ind., 
where he died in 1880 and his wife in 1887. 
James Jenkins, whose name heads this 
sketch, was the second child of his father's 



160 



HARRISON COUNTY 



second marriage, and was reared on a 
farm and was educated in the common 
schools of his neighborhood. 

He was married to Miss Mary Noon, 
April 8, 1860, a daughter of Calvin S. and 
Lauta (Clark) Noon. She had no children, 
and died May 13, 1881. 

Mr. Jenkins enlisted in February, 1865, 
in Co. E, 144th Indiana Vol. Infantry, 
and was discharged in August, 1865. 
He lived in Brandenburg, Ky., five years 
after the war, where he followed his trade 
of coopering. He then went to Mississippi, 
and then to Arkansas. While there was ap- 
pointed postmaster of Council Bend, but 
finally came back to Harrison county, as 
the best place after all. 



GEORGE B. KELLEY was born May 
19, 1830, and is a son of James and Laura 
(Johnson) Kelley, the former a native of 
Hardin county, Ky., and a son of Gideon 
Kelley, whose father was Zachariah Kelley, 
a native of Ireland. Laura Johnson Kelley 
was a daughter of Robert and Rachel John- 
son, natives of Kentucky, and whose an- 
cestors were from Virginia. The parents 
of George R. had nine children, of whom 
he was the eldest. He was brought by his 
parents to Indiana when but two years old. 
When he was sixteen they returned to Ken- 
tucky and he accompanied them, remain- 
ing two years ; then he came back to Indi- 
ana. He was married August 29, 1852, 
to Catharine Mulkins, daughter of Norman 
and Elizabeth Mulkins, the former born in 
Kentucky about 1803, and the latter, whose 
maiden name was Miller, was a native of 
Indiana, but her parents were Pennsylva- 
nians. To Mr. and Mrs. Kelley were born 
fourteen children, viz : Winfield S., January 



17, 1853; Henry C, January 1, 1855; 
Emma, March 30, 1857 (died Sept. 8, 
1870); Robert, February 1, 1859; Alonzo 
L., March 16, 1861 (died Feb. 15, 1867; 
Laura E., December 27, 1863; James G., 
October 15, 1865 (died January 5, 1869); 
Sarah F., February 16, 1867; Susanna, 
November 4, 1871 (died March 9, 1872) ; 
Mary M., January 28, 1873; Edna G., 
April 3, 1875; Walter Q., November 30, 
1877; Carrie H., September 15, 1879, and 
Rose C, June 16, 1881. After his mar- 
riage Mr. Kelley settled in Harrison, and 
now resides in Taylor township of that 
county. He is a reputable farmer and a 
highly respected citizen. He enlisted in 
the Union army September 23, 1864, and 
was discharged April 10, 1865, on the sur- 
geon's certificate of disability. The parents 
of subject, James and Laura Johnson 
Kelley, are but recently dead — the former 
died April 13, 1880, and the latter March 
27, 1880, within little more than two weeks 
of each other. 



CHRISTOPHER C. H. KERNS, com- 
mander of Ulrich Dahlgren Post, 470, G. A. 
R., was born in Russell county, Ky., July 
3, 1840, and is a son of Isham and Louise 
(Hall) Kerns, the former a native of Ken- 
tucky. He was the son of Job Kerns, born 
in Germany about the year 1760, a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, who died in Russell county, 
Ky., at an advanced age. Isham Kerns 
was a skilled mechanic, a natural genius; 
he followed blacksmithing, was a good 
stone mason, and also a carpenter. He 
served in tbe late war, in the Twelfth Ken- 
tucky Regiment, was 58 years old when he 
enlisted, and drove an ambulance most of 
the time. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



161 



Christopher, whose name heads this 
sketch, was the second in the family of four 
children ; three sons and the father served 
in the Federal army during the late war. 
Christopher enlisted in Kentucky, at the 
beginning of the war, and after serving 
some time was taken prisoner and paroled. 
He then came to Indiana and enlisted in 
the Fiftieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 
Co. C, on the 5th of September, 1864, in 
which he served until after the close of the 
war, being discharged July 12, 1805, at 
Montgomery, Ala. He was afterward taken 
prisoner at or near Dardenell, Ark., and 
held a prisoner about four and a half months ; 
imprisoned first at New Washington, Ark., 
then at Shreveport, La., and afterward at 
Tyler, Tex. Was finally exchanged at the 
mouth of Red river. After the war he came 
to Harrison county, then to Gibson county, 
Ind., where he was married to Miss Eliza- 
beth F. Huffman, September 17, 1865, who 
was born October 17, 1848. • She was 
the daughter of Henry and Isabel (Reed) 
Huffman. They have had ten children, viz : 
Eliza E., Martha J., Engiba M., Anna B., 
Magnolia N., Sarah H., Uriel G., Octavia E., 
Samuel D. and Lydia L., three of whom are 
dead. Anna B. died August 8, 1S70; Mag- 
nolia N. died December 29, 1873, and Lydia 
L. died May 3, 1885. Mr. Kerns has an ex- 
cellent little farm of sixty acres in Boone 
township, this county, which he has highly 
improved. He is also a justice of the peace, 
the office of which he has filled with satis- 
faction to all. 



BARNETT KERKER was born in Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., in 1837, and was the son of 
Michael and Anna (Lope) Kerker, natives 
of Germany, who came to America when 



children with their parents, and at maturity 
were married in Pennsylvania. To them 
were born seven children, of whom Barnett 
Kerker, the subject of this sketch, was the 
youngest. He was reared on a farm and 
received but a limited education. When 
the war broke out in 1861, he enlisted, in 
August of that year, in Co. G, of the 
Seventy-fourth regiment, but was discharg- 
ed in September, 1862, on account of 
wounds received in the service. His first 
enlistment was in Co. A, Ninteenth Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, for three months. 

Mr. Kerker learned the trade of a glass 
blower, and made several trips down the 
river from Pittsburgh to Louisville and Jef- 
fersonville, stopping at different towns, and 
engaged at his trade. He finally settled 
in Jeffersonville at the close of the war, 
but later came to Harrison county, where 
he has since resided. On the 8th of May, 
1871, he was married to Miss Matilda 
Wissle,aPennsylvanian. Four children were 
born of this marriage, viz : Anthon in 1872, 
John in 1874, Rose in 1876, and Edward 
in 1878. His wife died Feb. 28, 1882, 
and Oct. 13, 1884, he married Miss Lavina 
Coons, a native of this county. They have 
two children, born as follows : Alva, July 
19, 1885, and Ida, May 10, 1887. Mr. 
Kerker emigrated to Harrison county in 
1884, his first wife having died in Penn- 
sylvania. 



JAMES M. KRON was born in Posey 
township, Harrison county, Ind., June 5, 
1837, and is the son of Frederick and 
Rachel (Meek) Kron, the former born in 
Virginia October 1, 1810, and died in this 
county in 1S54. He was the son of 
George Kron, a native of Virginia, who 
emigrated to Indiana in a very early day 



162 



HARRISON COUNTY 



and settled in Harrison county, one of the 
pioneers who combined to make the State 
the paradise it is to-day. 

Eachel Meek Kron was the daughter of 
Sylvester and Rachael Meek, natives of 
Ohio. James M., the subject, was the 
third in a family of seven children. He 
was reared on the farm, and educated in 
the common schools of the county. He 
enlisted in the army December 21, 1863, 
and was discharged June 15, 1865, for dis- 
ability. He was a member of Co. F, 81st 
Ind. Vol. Infantry, and was wounded at 
Jonesboro, and came home. He was 
married September 10, 1870, to Mrs. 
Sarah Goldsmith, formerly Miss Sarah 
Bolden, and a daughter of Sebert and Mary 
Bolden. Her first husband was James H. 
Goldsmith, and she had two children by 
him, viz: Martha J., born April 25, 1863, 
and Mary M., bom July 29, 1865. Mr. 
Goldsmith died, and his widow married Mr. 
Kron as above. They have six children, 
viz: Emma L., born May 1, 1871; Julia 
A., born July 29, 1873; Selina A., born 
November 19, 1875; W. H., born January 
1, 1878; James A., born September 1, 
1880 ; Wiley, January 3, 1883. He has a 
farm of about forty acres of land, which he 
has well improved, and cultivates princi- 
pally in fine fruits. He also does some 
coopering for the neighborhood. 



JAMES LANG was born in this (Har- 
rison) county, July, 17, 1835, and is a son 
of Samuel S. and Mary Ann (Current) Lang, 
both natives of this county, and prominent 
among their neighbors. James' grand- 
father, Eobert Lang, was a native of Shelby 
county, Ky., and came to Indiana when it 
was a Territory, locating in Harrison county. 



He was Justice of the Peace, County Com- 
missioner, and held other county offices. 
He died in 1856, at the age of seventy 
years. James, the subject, was brought 
up on a farm, and educated in the common 
schools. In 1855, he married Miss Eliza- 
beth Mock, a daughter of Joseph Mock, 
Esq., a native of Virginia, but who came 
to Indiana when quite small, and was a 
large farmer and a man of some local 
prominence. He died in 1862. Mr. Lang 
has no children, but is the oldest in a 
family of ten children, eight boys and two 
girls. After the subject are: Harry, Sam- 
uel C, Eobert, Craven, by first wife; and 
Bhoda, Abraham Lincoln, Hamilton, Al- 
bert and Elizabeth, by a second wife. These 
last all died while small, except Albert and 
Elizabeth. 



GANES LaEUE, a leading farmer, was 
born in Harrison county, Ind., in 1818. 
His ancestors were of Old Virginia stock, 
and were among the best families who emi- 
grated from that State to Indiana. His 
father, Spencer LaEue, settled in Har- 
rison county in 1817, a native of Virginia, 
as was also his mother, Margeret (Davis) 
LaEue. 

Ganes LaEue's educational advantages 
were limited to schools of the county. He 
is one of the successful farmers of Harri- 
son county. He was married, in 1844, to 
Miss Sallie Boley, who was born in Harri- 
son county in 1826, and a daughter of 
Isaac Boley, a pioneer who settled in the 
county from Virginia. This union has been 
blessed with ten children, all of whom 
have been well educated. He owns a fine 
fami in Jackson township, and devotes 
his entire time to farming and stock 
raising. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



163 



SAMUEL LAWSON was bom in White 
county, Tenn., December 8, 1829, and is a 
son of Pleasant and Rebecca (Morgan) 
Lawson ; the former a soldier in the War of 
1812, and served three years in the Eighth 
Regulars, Col. Charles Pinckney ; the latter 
was a granddaughter of Gen. Daniel Mor- 
gan, whose famous Regiment of Riflemen 
was a power in the Revolutionary war. 
Samuel Lawson, the subject, was the fifth 
in a family of nine children. He was 
reared on the farm and received a common- 
school education. When war was declared 
against Mexico, he enlisted in Co. C, 
Third Kentucky Volunteers, and served 
out the term of enlistment, one year. He 
enlisted and was discharged at Louisville, 
Ky., and thence came to Harrison county, 
and engaged in blacksmithing. In 1862 
he was. married to Miss Elizabeth Hick- 
man, a daughter of James and Elizabeth 
Hickman, natives of Virginia ; the former 
born in 1801, and died in 1887. They 
have had seven children, viz : William W., 
Sherman T., Martha K., Laura, Mary F., 
Rebecca and Andrew ; all are living except 
Sherman, who died August 21, 1867. Mr. 
Lawson was commissioned captain of an 
independent company, mustered in the fall 
of 1861, commissioned by Governor Morton, 
called the Lawson Grays, which he com- 
manded for three years and was then mus- 
tered in the Sixth Regiment of the State 
Legion. September 22, 1864, he enlisted 
in the Fifty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infan- 
try, in which he served until mustered out 
at the expiration of his term of service. 
He saw hard service while out, and was 
with Sherman in his grand march to the 
sea, enduring the fatigue and all the 
hardships of that long march. He was 
present at the surrender of Gen. Joseph 
E. Johnston. June 4, 1865, he was 
mustered out of the service and returned 



home, the survivor of two warsaud a high- 
ly respected citizen. 



ISAAC E. LEFFLERwas born in Posey 
township, Harrison county, Ind., April 5, 
1846, and is the son of Peter and Ellen 
(Cooper) Leffler — the former also a native 
of Harrison county ; the latter a daughter 
of John and Mary (Chappell) Cooper. 
Isaac E. was the second in a family of four 
children. He was born and reared on a 
farm and received a good common-school 
education. He enlisted in 1863, in Co. F, 
Eighty-first Regiment Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry. Subsequently he was transferred 
to Co. F, Thirty-first Infantry, in which he 
served till the close of the war, being dis- 
charged December 18, 1865. His service in 
the army was hard, and among his fighting 
was a participation in the battle of Nash- 
ville, when he was on line of battle for a 
week, and fought two whole days. After 
the war was over he returned to his home, 
bought the old homestead farm, and in 
1 867, on the 7th of November, he married 
Miss Mary A. Shaner, a daughter of Jacob 
and Mary Shaner, born in Harrison county, 
in January, 1843. They have seven chil- 
dren, born as follows : Mary E., October 30, 
1868; Charles E., July 7, 1870; Lavina 
S. N., August 17, 1874; Catherine A., 
July 28, 1877; John W., January 6, 1880; 
Richard E., November 6, 1882, and Amos 
G., April 10, 1884 — all of whom are living. 



JAMES D. LEMAY, a well-to-do farmer 
of the county, is a native of Albemarle 
county, Virginia, and was born September 



164 



HARRISON COUNTY 



14, 1830. He is a son of William Lernay, 
and his mother's maiden name was Gentry, 
who were both Virginians by birth. His 
father came to Harrison county in 1833, 
and died in 1849. 

James D. Lemay was married to Cyntha 
Ann, daughter of Philip Bell, deceased, of 
this county, in 1853. Her death occurred 
in Feb., 1859. In 1860 he was again mar- 
ried, to Miss Eebecca Jane Brown, a native 
of Ohio, daughter of Benjamin Brown, 
who was born in Virginia and removed to 
this county a number of years before his 
death. 

Mr. Lemay's children were William and 
Henry R., who are both deceased. He has 
a splendid farm of 280 acres near Corydon. 



DAVID F. LEMMEL was born in Jef- 
ferson county, Ky., January 12, 1835, and 
son of John and Margaret Lemmel ; the 
former a prominent farmer of Harrison 
county, who died in 1851, aged sixty years ; 
the latter died also in 1851, aged fifty-eight 
years. Both were natives of Germany 
and came to the United States in 1832. 

David F. was reared on the farm, and 
taught that it was an honest and inde- 
pendent calling. 

He was married in 1856 to Miss Eliza- 
beth Schafer, of Harrison county, who bore 
five children, viz : Sarah A., Mary C, 
George W., Alice M. and Nannie B. The 
only one married is Sarah, who married 
George W. Yeager, of this county. Mrs. 
Lemmel died in 1870. 

In 1872 he married Miss Nancy Nance, 
of Floyd county, Indiana. Mr. Lemmel 
owns a fine fruit farm, numbering sixty 
acres, on the Corydon and New Albany 
Turnpike road, one mile from Lanesville. 
It is as good land as there is in the county. 



He makes a specialty of strawberries, and 
in 1886 sold 3,200 gallons off of four acres 
of ground. Mr. Lemmel is a prominent 
man in this neighborhood, and an enter- 
prising and prosperous farmer. 



DANIEL F. LEMMON was born July 
18, 1844, in Franklin township, Harrison 
county, Ind. His father, John Lemmon, 
a native of Spencer county, Ky., was born 
in 1804, and emigrated to Harrison county, 
Ind., in 1884. He was four times elected 
as a member of the Indiana Legislature in 
1852, 1854, 1862 and 1864, serving his 
county with ability ; he also served as a 
county commissioner, was a man of great 
public spirit and indentified with all en- 
terprises that had in view the advance- 
ment of the material interests of Harrison 
county. He died in September, 1881. 
Mr. Lemmon's mother, Elizabeth Johnson, 
was a native of Jefferson county, Ky., and 
both his grandfathers were soldiers in the 
Revolutionary war that gave this country 
independence of England, and were natives 
of Virginia. 

Daniel F. Lemmon is the eighth of ten 
children, was reared on a farm, and edu- 
cated in the schools of Harrison couuty 
and the city of Louisville, Ky. He was 
county superintendent of schools from 
June, 1873 to November, 1884, when he 
resigned to accept the office of county 
clerk, to which he was elected in 1884. 

He was married in 1863 to Lucinda J. 
Sharp, daughter of Wm. D. M. Sharp, of 
Harrison county. Six children have been 
born to the marriage : Cora A., Lizzie, John 
W., Emma, Caddie and Brandt. Mr. Lem- 
mon is an active member of the I. 0. 0. F. 
at Corydon. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



165 



J. W. H. LITTELL is a native of this 
(Harrison) county, and was born January 
27, 1840. He is a son of Hugh and De- 
lilah (Long) Littell ; the former born August 
14, 1814, and was a son of Eeuben and 
Elizabeth (Gormley) Littell, natives of Vir- 
ginia. The family emigrated to Harrison 
county in 1817, and settled a half-mile south 
Corydon. Delilah Long, the wife of Hugh 
Littell (and mother of subject), was born 
in this county, and was a daughter of Levi 
Long, an early settler of the county, and a 
noted preacher in the Baptist Church here 
fifty years ago — a man of great natural 
talent and moral worth. He was an inveter- 
ate worker, attended five or six churches at 
a time, at great distances from each other, 
and traveled on foot or horseback, stopping 
where night overtook him, and receiving 
the hospitalities of the pioneer's cabin 
without money and without price. Rever- 
ently asking the blessing of God on all he 
did, his life was simple and unostentatious, 
his wants few and easily satisfied. His 
teachings, though plain and unvarnished, 
did as much, or more toward Christianiz- 
ing, what was then a new and wild coun- 
try, than any other influence. He lived 
out the measure of his days, and died in 
the hope of a glorious immortality. J. W. 
H. Littell, the subject of this sketch, was 
reared on his father's farm until he was 
sixteen years of age, when he went to clerk 
for Paul Sieg, of Corydon, which he fol- 
lowed for one year, when he returned to 
the farm. At eighteen, having received a 
good common-school education, he began 
teaching, which he continued until the 
storms of war commenced gathering around 
his home, and the Confederate, John Mor- 
gan, the great cavalry raider of the South, 
crossed the Rubicon to his fate, when he 
joined Capt. J. W. Marshall's company of 
of the "Home Legion," and took part in (as 



he termed it) the "John Morgan racket." 
On the 4th of April, 1864, he was mus- 
tered into the Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry, 
commanded by Col. Johnson, the last cav- 
alry regiment raised, but the first equipped 
and sent to the front. Mr. Littell enlisted 
as a private, but was soon promoted to 
Lieutenant of Co. D. In the summer of 

1865, he was promoted to Acting Assistant 
Regimental Quartermaster, with the rank of 
Captain ; at the same time he filled the po- 
sition of Commissary, thus holding two 
positions at once. He was in the Murirees- 
boro and Nashville battles, and then in a 
chain of running fights until Hood crossed 
the Tennessee, also in all the engagements in 
around Nashville. His shirt and coat sleeve 
were shot through by the enemy's shell, but 
he received no personal injury. Since the 
war he has devoted his time and attention 
to farming, except two years just after the 
close of the war, when he engaged in man- 
ufacturing tombstones, etc. He owns 
about 200 acres of fine land, well improved 
and in an excellent state of cultivation. 
He has a handsome residence and is well 
fixed to live comfortable and well. He has 
one of the finest herds of cattle, consisting 
of Jerseys, shorthorns, etc., in Harrison 
county, and some very fine blooded horses. 
Captain Littell was married in October, 

1866, to Miss Bettie A. Sieg, a daughter of 
J. M. Sieg, Esq., of Harrison county. The 
Sieg family is from Virginia originally; 
John Sieg, the grandfather of Mrs. Littell, 
settled here in 1816, among the early set- 
tlers of the county. Captain and Mrs. Lit- 
tell have six children living, viz : Minnie, 
Walter, Pinckney, Joe Logan, Alonzo and 
Loretta. Captain Littell is a member and 
adjutant of Nevin Post, G. A. R. ; was one 
of the organizers of this Post, and in 1882 
elected first Commander of it, which po- 
sition he beld for four years. He is a 



16G 



HARRISON COUNTY 



staunch Republican, but at the same time 
somewhat liberal in his political sentiments. 
He is a great reader and well versed in 
the current literature of the day. 



JOHN J. LOWE was born in the town of 
Elizabeth, Harrison county, Ind., March 
24, 1833, and is a son of Nathan M. and 
Mary (Stephaus) Lowe ; the former a native 
of Albany, N. Y., and the other a daughter 
of John Stephaus of this county. The 
elder Lowe was brought up in his native 
city, and was liberally educated, graduat- 
ing from the best schools. He read medi- 
cine, attended lectures, graduated, and re- 
ceived a diploma from the best college in 
New York. He came West in 1825 and lo- 
cated in Harrison county, where he prac- 
ticed his profession until his death, April, 
29, 1865. His wife, Mary Stephaus, was 
a native of this county, but her parents 
came from Rhode Island. John J. Lowe, 
the subject of this sketch, was the fourth 
in a family of ten children. He was brought 
up and educated in his native town of Eliz- 
abeth, and graduated from Friendship 
Academy of that place, an institution of 
learning that had a high reputation in its 
day. Hundreds of students attended it 
from all parts of the State, and at the time 
Mr. Lowe was a pupil, it was under the 
superintendence of Prof. John S. Samback, 
a very higldy-educated and cultured gentle- 
man. After completing his education Mr. 
Lowe entered the office of his father for the 
study of medicine, but after reading for a 
time, he gave up the study and turned his 
attention to mechanical pursuits. He be- 
came a skillful carpenter and plasterer, 
and also farmed to a large extent. For a 
time during the war he served the Govern- 



ment as a teamster, but in April, 1865, he 
enlisted in Co. D, of the Forty-ninth Ind. 
Vol. Infantry, in which he served until the 
expiration of his term of enlistment, Sep- 
tember 5, 1865, when he was honorably 
discharged. Mr. Lowe was married Sep- 
tember 14, 1854, to Miss Mary A. Gill- 
more, a daughter of Benjamin and Millie 
Gillmore. To them were bom ten children, 
as follows : Laura B. and Flora V. (twins), 
August 16, 1S57; Nathan, March, 15, 
1860; Fanny A., January 18, 1862; Mar- 
garet A., April 24, 1865 ; Harriet, August 
3, 1867; Clara T., February 4, 1871; Eva 
G., April 7, 1875 ; Charles H., October 21, 
1877; Benjamin K., November 16, 1879; 
all of whom are living except three, viz: 
Nathan died February 3, 1861; Charles 
died August 27, 1S78,- and Benjamin died 
March 24, 1881. He settled on a farm of 
fifty acres, which is highly cultivated and 
well set in fine fruit trees and grapes. He 
has two grape vines of the Fox variety 
that are sixty-five years old, and rarely 
fail to bear fruit. Mr. Lowe is an enter- 
prising citizen, and a prosperous, well-to- 
do farmer. 



JAMES LONG is a native of this (Har- 
rison) county, and was born July 17, 
1835. He is a son of Samuel S. and Mary 
Ann (Current) Long, also natives of the 
county. The elder Long was a prominent 
farmer of Harrison county, well liked by 
everybody who knew him. He died in 
1866, leaving a family of ten children. 
His father, Robert Long, was a native of 
Shelby county, Ky., but came to Indiana 
when it was a Territory, locating in the 
present county of Harrison. He was 
among the earliest settlers of the county, 
and served as justice of the peace and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES 



lG7 



county commissioner, nearly all through 
his life. He was a member of the old 
Whig party, but in those days the office, 
sought the man, not the man the office, 
and Democrats and Whigs alike voted for 
Mr. Long whenever he was a candidate for 
office. He died in 1S56, at the age of 
seventy years. James Long, the subject 
of this sketch, was the eldest of a family of 
ten children, and was brought up on a 
farm, receiving a common-school education. 
In 1855 he was married to Miss Elizabeth 
Mock, a daughter of Joseph Mock, Esq., 
a native of Virginia, but who came to Indi- 
ana when quite young, and died in Febru- 
ary, 1862. Mr. Long has no children. He 
is one of Harrison county's most exemplary 
citizens, and belongs to one of the oldest 
families of the State, highly respected and 
prominent in the affairs of the county. 
He owns 110 acres of highly improved 
land, and devotes considerable time and 
attention to fruit culture. 



JOHN LOWETH was born in Hunting- 
tonshire, Eng., the same county in which 



Oliver Cromwell was born, May 31, 183!). 
He was a son of Eobert and Elizabeth 
(Eoycroft) Loweth, who still reside in 
England. Mr. Loweth came to the United 
States when a boy. He received a good busi- 
ness education in the mother country. His 
family on both sides were millers, which 
occupation was followed by the male mem- 
bers. At the age of 18 he located at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, with his uncle, and in 1867 
came to Corydon, Ind., and engaged in 
running the Red Mills with Hisey & Denbo. 
Subsequently he bought a part of the Eclipse 
Mills; now he owns the whole establish- 
ment. He is putting in the new patent 
roller process at considerable expense. Six 
months the mill rims by water and six 
months by steam — capacity 100 barrels in 
24 hours. It is a four-story frame 50x50 
feet. Mr. Loweth was married in 1862, to 
Miss Mary J. Scott, of Floyd county, and a 
daughter of Moses Scott, one of the early 
settlers of Floyd county, originally from 
near Shelbyville, Ky. Moses Scott laid off 
the town of Scottsville, Floyd county, which 
bears his name. 



168 



HARRISON COUNTY 



JOHN McRAE was a son of Daniel A. 
McRae. Was born February 12, 1820. 
He was the eldest in a family of six chil- 
dren, and was brought up on a farm, receiv- 
ing such education as was to be obtained 
at that day. When twenty-two years old 
he obtained a position on a steamboat on 
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, rising to 
the head of the river profession. 

During the war he was captain of the 
steamer "Diana," a prominent vessel in 
the Government service. She was sent down 
the Mississippi river to rid the country of 
the swarms of guerrillas then depudating 
upon all people alike. 

Under the name of the Mississipsi 
Marine Brigade, in command of Gen. 
Elliott, they paroled the lower rivers, and 
treating guerrillas who fell into their hands 
to a short shrift. The fleet was composed 
of six mammoth side wheelers and four 
stern wheelers. Mr. McRae served as 
captain of one of these vessels about a 
year, when he was discharged for disabil- 
ity. The Marine Brigade accomplished 
the purpose for which it was formed — it 
cleared the river country from guerrillas, 
and recovered a large quantity of contra- 
band goods. Capt. McRae is now the only 
surviving captain of that famous fleet, the 
Marine Brigade, which left New Albany, 
April 5, 1863. 

He married Miss Tilbartha Robinson, 
the daughter of James T. and Christiana 
Robinson — the former a native of Dela- 
ware, born in 1785, and died in 1867; the 
latter born in 1823, and died June 11, 
1888. To them were born five children. 

Capt. John McRae, whose portrait ap- 
pears in this volume, after meeting with 
the misfortune of being paralyzed on one 
side, arm and leg, he retired from his ac- 
tive duties as a "river man," to his farm 
near Evans' Landing, where he has a beau- 



tiful home, surrounded with the comforts of 
life, and a happy family of children. 

There is no farmer or citizen in Harrison 
county more widely and favorably known, 
or a man who values honor and integrity 
among men higher than Captain John Mc- 
Rae. 

A genealogical account of the MaeRas 
was written by John MacRa, some time 
minister of Duig Wall, in Ross-shire, who 
died in 1704. This was transcribed and 
extended by Farquhar MacRa, and, from 
manuscript received from Scotland, was 
printed for private circulation by Colin 
MacRae, of Camden, S. C. In the account 
there is reference to a tradition of a "des- 
perate rencounter betwixt two of the petty 
Princes of Ireland, in which a certain 
young man signalized himself by his prow- 
ess, defending himself from a particular 
attack of the enemy, which others observ- 
ing said, in Irish words, "he was a fortu- 
nate son." The spelling of the original 
name, McRath, was variously modified, ac- 
cording to the pronunciation in the dialect 
of the particular locality, Thus : Mac- 
Grath, MacGraw, MacGrow, MaeRay, 
MacRae ; sometimes from an "ill-founded 
prejudice," the Mac was dropped and the 
name became Craw, Crow, Ray or Rae. In 
this country, a John McRae adopted the 
spelling McCrea, that he might be distin- 
guished from other John MacRaes. Some 
of the Mac Ras, adherents of Colin Fitz- 
gerald, came to Scotland as early as 1265. 

At a somewhat later date, probably, Mae- 
Ras came to Kintail, whence they widely 
diffused. The genealogist cited maintains 
that the MacKensies, the MacRaes, and 
the MacLains were of the same people in 
Ireland. He gives as an evidence to which 
the manners of the times would give force, 
the fact that a MacKensie, a MacRa, and 
a MacLain had a tomb in the same place. 






^uj 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



171 



He also maintains that the Campbells of 
Scotland were of the same stock, a MacRa 
having married the heiress of Craignish, 
and changed his name to Campbell. He 
seems to be proud of the fact that this Mac- 
Ra, in changing his name did not change 
his blood. The Campbells and the Mac- 
Ras maintaining a close intimacy through- 
out successive generations. Whatever may 
have been the degree of relationship, or the 
comparative prominence of the four clans, 
they were all brave in battle, constant in 
friendship and true to public trusts. A 
large portion of the MacRas in the United 
States of America are descendants from those 
who landed at Wilmington, N. C, before 
the Revolution. Others are descended from 
an Episcopal minister sent to Virginia by 
the British Crown. At an early period one 
MacRae is known to have emigrated to 
New York. From these progenitors have 
sprung many families of local prominence, 
and not a few of wider distinction. Their 
chief merit, however, does not consist in 
the fact that they have furnished heroic 
soldiers, prosperous farmers, successful 
merchants, able professionals and wise 
legislators, but rather in the fact that their 
law-abiding habits are such that their 
names do not appear in the lists of convicts. 

Capt. John McRae's grandfather, Alex- 
ander McRae, was born in Scotland 
about 1745, married Catherine McRae, 
and, with one child, left their native coun- 
try and came to America in 1773. He 
located in Wilmington, N. C. He was a 
weaver by trade, and engaged in farming 
and weaving in his new home. Four chil- 
dren were born to them, and then his wife 
died. He afterward married Flora McRae, 
by whom he had six children. Of the four 
born of his first marriage, Daniel A. McRae 
was the youngest. 

He (Daniel A. McRae) became a man of 



considerable prominence, receiving, for that 
day, a liberal education. The early settlers 
of North Carolina, of whom a large settle- 
ment, when the McRae's located, were from 
Scotland. They were not willing to rear 
their children in ignorance, and so brought 
teachers from their native country, at their 
own expense, and by this means Daniel A. 
McRae was well educated, becoming pro- 
ficient in the art of surveying as well as in 
other branches of learning. He married 
Christina McDonald, in 1813, daughter of 
Angus McDonald, and came to Harrison 
county the next year, locating upon the 
land the village of New Middletown now 
stands upon. 

He followed surveying for eight or ten 
years, and was the second county surveyor. 
He was also a millwright, and built many 
of the best mills in the county. In 1840 
he removed to Crawford county, and soon 
after was appointed surveyor of the county. 
He was elected to the lower house of the 
Legislature in 1845, and made an efficient 
and working member. When his term ex- 
pired he was again appointed county sur- 
veyor. And about the year 1850 he moved 
back to Harrison county, where he died 
Aug. 16, 1875, "full of years and full of 
honors." 

The subject of this sketch is descended 
from the North Carolina MacRaes. 



SAMUEL P. McRAE was born in Web- 
ster township, Harrison county, January 
29, 1843, and is the son of Malcom and 
Mary (McRae) McRae, which makes him a 
full-blooded McRae. They came to Indiana 
in an early day, and settled in Harrison 
county. His grandfather was Christopher 
McRae, a native of North Carolina ; was 



172 



HARRISON COUNTY 



born about 1775, and a soldier of the War of 
1812. He married Mary McRae, a daugh- 
ter of Alexander McRae, a Revolutionary 
soldier, who was a son of Duncan McRae. 
Malcom and Mary McRae bad ten children, 
of whom Samuel P. (the subject) was the 
eldest. He was raised on a farm and re- 
ceived such education as afforded by the 
common schools. He enlisted September 
23, 1864, in Co. G, Fifty-eighth Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged 
June 25, 1865, by expiration of term of 
service. He was, besides other service, 
with Gen. Sherman in his march to the 
sea, and bore a part in all the hardships of 
that long and toilsome march. He was 
present at the surrender of Gen. Joe John- 
ston, and then went to Ricbmond and thence 
to Washington, D. C, where he was dis- 
charged as above. He was married Dec. 
26, 1878, to Miss Harriet Marsh, born 
March 20, 1852, a daughter of James and 
Nancy Marsh, natives of Harrison county. 
The live on the fami entered by Malcom 
McRae, subject's father, many years ago. 



JAMES A.McRAE, a son of John McRae, 
born in Harrison county, February 16, 1845. 
He was raised on a farm and attended the 
common schools, finishing off his education 
at the Corydon High School. He enlisted 
in the army December 8, 1861, tbough but 
17 years of age, in Co. K, Fifty-ninth 
Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was dis- 
charged in February, 1863, for disability. 
After leaving the army he taught school 
several terms. He was married March 14, 
1865, to Miss Zerilda A. Safford, a grand- 
daughter of the Hon. Wilham Safford, who 
served as representative in the Legislature, 
and a daughter of Jesse Safford, a promi- 



nent farmer. Mr. and Mrs. McRae had 
five children : Nellie V., born December 8, 
1865; Jesse A., October 17, 1867; Frank 
E., August 23, 1870; John D., February 
13, 1873, and Claudius, June 24, 1875. 
Mrs. McRae died March 1, 1878, and on 
April 26, 1881, Mr. McRae was married 
to Elizabeth Kirkham. To them were born 
three children as follows : Edna and Ethel 
(twins), August 11, 1883; Walter C, May 
12, 1885, and died May 6, 1886. Mrs. 
McRae died November 17, 1887. Mr. 
McRae has twice been chosen trustee of 
Taylor township, and owns a large and ex- 
cellent farm. He is an exemplary citizen 
and an energetic business man and farmer. 



ROBERT McDANIEL was born in Mem- 
phis, Tenn., March, 30, 1845, and is the son 
of Hiram and Rebecca (Rainey) McDaniel ; 
the former bom in Kentucky in 1816 ; the 
latter also bom in Kentucky, and a daugh- 
ter of Robert and Mary Rainey. Robert 
Rainey was a son of Wm. Rainey, the lat- 
ter a soldier and scout in the United States 
army for eleven years. He was with Gen. 
Wayne in his campaign which resulted in 
suppressing Indian outrages in Ohio, In- 
diana and Kentucky. Hiram McDaniel 
was a son of Peter and Mary McDaniel, 
natives of Kentucky. About 1844 he went 
to Memphis, Tenn., where he remained 
several years, and then removed to Louis- 
ville, Ky., where he located and engaged 
in teaming. Later he came to Indiana, 
and settled in Harrison county. He fol- 
lowed fanning and teaming to the end of 
of his life, and died May 18, 1864. Rob- 
ert McDaniel, the subject of this sketch, 
was the eldest in a family of nine chil- 
dren bom to his parents. He was raised 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



173 



on a farm and received such education as 
afforded by the schools of the neighborhood. 
He enlisted in Co. M, Forty-fifth Indiana 
Volunteers (Third Cavalry), and was dis- 
charged April 15, 1865, by expiration of 
his term of service. His service was long 
and severe, but he lived through it and re- 
turned in safety to home and friends. 
March 30, 1870, he married Miss Cinder- 
ilia Detrick, a daughter of John and Eu- 
thora Detrick. They have nine children, viz : 
Ticia, born January 13, 1871 ; Eugene, 
born April 15,1872; Euthora, October 9, 
1873; Mary, February 12, 1875;Eobert 
E., September 25, 1876; Charles, Septem- 
ber 20, 1879 ; Samuel, May 23, 1881 ; 
Hiram W., July 16, 1884 (died August 23, 
1885); Martha K., November 30, 1886. 
Mr. McDaniel is an industrious and pros- 
perous farmer, and a highly respectable 
citizen. 



GEORGE M. McCARTY, deceased, was 
born in Meade county, Ky., April 14, 1827, 
and was the son of William T. and Sophia 
(Bentley) McCarty, the former a native of 
Kentucky, and the latter of Pennsylvania 
— they came with their parents to Indiana 
when children. George M. was brought up 
on the farm, and received a good practical 
education, and when a young man followed 
school-teaching. In 1856 he married Miss 
Rebecca Sherman, a daughter of Jacob 
Sherman, who was a prominent farmer of 
this county, and in his young days was a 
leading merchant at Mauckport. Mr. 
McCarty, after teaching awhile, engaged in 
farming, and became one of the leading 
farmers of the county. He owned 340 
acres of land, 200 of which was in the Ohio 
river bottom opposite Brandenburg, and as 
productive as any that "over a crow flew 



over." Mr. and Mrs. McCarty had six 
children, viz : Augusta, Charles M., Will- 
iam H., Margaret E., Julia and Benjamin 
S. Augusta married Tarrence Connor, of 
Rome, Ind., but who now lives at Baxter 
Springs, Kansas ; Charles M. married Miss 
Laura Carroll, of this county, and is a far- 
mer; William H. married Martha E. Faith 
— she has since died ; Margaret E. married 
Stephen H. Carroll, formerly of this county, 
but now of Baxter Springs, Kas. The 
others are all at home. Mr. McCarty died 
in 1875, and was mourned by a large circle 
of friends and relatives. 



CAPT. JOHN W. MARSHALL is a 
native of Hardin county, Ky., and was 
born January 22, 1833. He is a son of 
John W. and Margaret (Hughes) Marshall, 
of Kentucky, and of the illustrious family 
so prominent in Kentucky and Virginia. 

Capt. Marshall came to this country 
thirty-eight years ago, and has lived most 
of the time in the township where he lives 
now. In 1S61 he raised a company of 
home guards 100 strong, which he drilled 
thoroughly. Subsequently he raised Co. 
C, Fifty-third Infantry, commanded by 
Col. Gresham. He was captain of Co. C, 
over two years, and was discharged on ac- 
count of being disabled at Big Black river 
in the latter part of 1862. He returned 
home and engaged in farming, which he 
has continued ever since. 

He has one of the finest farms in Har- 
rison county, comprising 46S acres of very 
productive land, well improved. 

Capt. Marshall was married to Miss 
Elizabeth Sieg, daughter of Daniel F. Sieg, 
a native of Virginia, who came here among 
the pioneers ; his father was John Sieg, 



174 



HARRISON COUNTY 



also an early settler, and a native of Vir- 
ginia. 

Capt. Marshall has been commander 
of Nevin Post, G. A. R. As a farmer, he is 
one of the best and most successful in the 
county, and owns one of the finest farms. 



WILLIAM G. MASON was born March 
5, 1840, and is the son of Lincoln and 
Laurauia (Dugan) Mason ; the former born 
in the Green River country of Kentucky, 
about 1806, came to Harrison county, Ind., 
when young; the latter was born in this 
county about 1818. Lincoln Mason dis- 
appeared very singularly. He was a cooper 
by trade, and it was his custom every fall 
to go to Louisville, Ky., and work at his 
trade there during the fall and winter. In 
the fall of 1851 he made his usual trip to 
that city. He was seen by several ac- 
quaintances after his arrival there, and 
then suddenly was lost sight of, and to this 
day has remained lost to his family and 
friends. William G., the subject of this 
sketch, is the third in a family of nine 
children. He was but 12 years of age 
when his father so suddenly disappeared, 
and he became the main stay and hell) of 
his mother. In September, 1861, he en- 
listed in Co. A, Forty-ninth Indiana Volun- 
teer Infantry, for three years or during the 
war. He participated in every battle and 
skirmish in which the Forty-ninth took 
part, and their service was no child's play. 
He escaped without a wound. At the close 
of the war he was discharged from the 
army, and returned home to Harrison 
county, when, on the 24th of May, 1867, 
he was married to Miss Rebecca Hornbeck, 
a native of Harrison county, and a daugh- 
ter of Abraham Hornbeck, also a soldier in 



the late war, serving in Co. E, Eighty-first 
Indiana Volunteer Infantry. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Mason were born nine children, as 
follows : Abe Lincoln, March 5, 1 868 ; 
Minnie, December 24, 1870; Doc, May 1, 
1872; Patty, Mayl, 1875; Daisy, August 
29, 1877; Florence, October 16, 1880; 
Leoma, June 16, 1882; Alice, September 
9, 1884, and Lilly, March 7, 1887. Mr. 
Mason lives on a farm in Taylor township, 
and is what may be termed a successful 
farmer. He and his wife are consistent 
members of the Baptist Church. 



SANFORD MARTIN was born in Wash- 
ington county, Ind., April 6, 1848, and is 
a son of Manoah Martin, who was born 
near Shelbyville, Ky., about 1816. He 
came to Indiana with his parents in infan- 
cy, his father, Lewis Martin, being one of 
the pioneers of Washington county. He 
(Lewis) was a native of Virginia, emigra- 
ted to Kentucky, and some years after to 
Indiana. Manoah Martin married Sallie 
A. Wood, a daughter of one of the early 
settlers of Wood township, Clark county, 
a township that was named for him. 

Sanford Martin, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared to farm life and educa- 
ted in the public schools of the county. 
He was married in 1870 to Elizabeth Da- 
vis, a daughter of Robert Davis, a native 
of Kentucky, but who come to Indiana with 
his parents in 1819. Mr. and Mrs. Mar- 
tin have six children, as follows : Robert, 
Stella J., Manoah, Ida B., Bethsadia M. 
and Arvle. After marriage Mr. Martin 
lived for some time in Clark county, but 
finally removed to Harrison county, where 
he has since resided. He settled near the 
site of an Indian village in what is now 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



175 



Spencer township. His wife, the mother of 
Elizabeth Davis Martin, was a daughter of 
Dennis Pennington, who was a prominent 
man in the early history of Harrison 
county. 

He represented the county in the Legis- 
lature at the first session, and at several 
successive terms after the State was or- 
ganized. He built the old State House 
now standing in the public square of Cory- 
don. His wife, the maternal grandmother 
of Mrs. Martin, who was Elizabeth Eng- 
lish, was captured by the Indians when 
she was but seven years of age, and kept in 
captivity until she was fourteen. Her step- 
father went on horseback to what is now 
the State of Minnesota for her, but she 
would not return with him. One of her 
brothers then went on foot for her, and she 
was induced to return to her people and to 
civilization. 

Mr. Martin owns 120 acres of choice 
land in Spencer township, which is well im- 
proved. He devotes some attention to 
growing small fruits, although he carries 
on general farming. 

He is a member of the Christian Church. 



JOHN J. MAUCK, farmer and miller, 
and a member of one of the oldest families 
in the county, was born in Harrison county, 
Jan. 1, 18@6. David and Elizabeth (Sni- 
der) Mauck were his parents, who emi- 
grated from Shenandoah county, Virginia, 
to Harrison county in 1802, and were 
among the very first families to locate in 
the county. They both came with their 
parents when quite young, and were among 
the eight or ten families who came to the 
county in wagons. At that time the 
Wyandotte Indians were indifferent toward 



the Whites, and a few years later became 
highly incensed and lead what is known as 
the "Pigeon Eoost Massacre," on the edge 
of Scott county, which occurred about the 
time the battle of Tippecanoe was fought, 
the exact date being Sept. 3, 1812. David 
Mauck was married in 18$©. His first 
settlement in Harrison county was on Blue 
river one and a half miles from Wyan- 
dotte Cave. He was a noted hunter in 
pioneer days, when the bear, elk and deer, 
were as numerous as were the Wyandotte 
Indians. He stood his draft for the War of 
1812, and furnished a substitute, who 
fought at the battle of Tippecanoe, and was 
successful in bagging several red skins ; after 
dressing his game, gave the hides over to 
Mr. Mauck, who was extensively engaged in 
tanning in those days as well as hunting. 
Mr. Mauck, after enduring the hardships 
of pioneer life, lived to be a very old man, 
dying in 1876, at the age of 92 years ; his 
wife, who shared with him in the vicissi- 
tudes of such a life, died in 1871, at the age 
of 71 years. 

John J. Mauck was married in 1861 to 
Mrs. Sarah B. Charley (nee Hayden). She 
was born in Hardin county, Ky. Two 
children have blessed this union : Addie L. 
and Annie B. Mr. Mauck when a boy 
learned the trade of miller, and for thirty- 
five years has been engaged in this business. 
His flouring mill is located on Indian 
creek, one-half mile below Corydon, and his 
farm of eighty acres joins Corydon. He is 
a public-spirited, progressive citizen, always 
ready to aid in any laudable enterprise that 
is for the good of the people and for the 
building up and development of the county. 



REV. JOHN MELTON, a local minister 
of the Methodist Church, was bom in Floyd 



176 



HARRISON COUNTY 



county, Ind., February 22, 1835, and is a 
son of Daniel and Malinda (Bolton) Melton, 
the former a native of Harrison county, and 
the latter of Kentucky. The elder Melton 
entered the army in the late war, died, and 
was buried at Harper's Ferry. The subject 
of this sketch was reared on a farm and 
educated in the common schools. After 
the age of 17 he went to New Albany", and 
learned the cabinet-maker's trade, which 
he followed for a number of years. In 
September, 1858, he entered the ministry, 
in the United Brethren denomination, for 
which he labored until in 1870, when he 
joined the Methodist Church. He was 
married, in 1855, to Miss Anna Busby, a 
daughter of John and Catherine Busby. 
They have twelve children, all of whom are 
living. He owns 240 acres of excellent 
land, highly improved and in a fine state 
of cultivation. His farm is well stocked, 
and he devotes some attention to raising 
blooded cattle. His specialty, however, 
is fruit growing, to which he gives most of 
his time. He has a fine fruit orchard of 
3,500 trees of the best varieties. 



WILLIAM J. MILES, Sit., was born in 
Harrison county, June 24, 1S17, and is a 
son of Joseph Miles, who came from Ken- 
tucky, but was originally from Maryland. 
He was raised on a farm and grew up with 
few educational advantages. When seven- 
teen years old he engaged to work in black- 
smith shop of Edward Marsh, who still 
lives in New Albany. 

At the age of twenty he married Miss 
Malinda Arnold, a daughter of George 
Arnold, Esq., one of the pioneers of Harri- 
son county, who came from Virginia and 
settled here about 1806. He was born in 



1796, served a number of years as justice 
of the peace and was one of the first civil 
officers of the county. His father, Richard 
Arnold, was also one of the earliest set- 
tlers, and worked on the first mill built in 
Harrison county, — the mill built at the 
Harrison Spring. 

W. J. Miles, Sr., and Mrs. Miles have 
eight children, as follows : Nancy E., mar- 
ried to William Barks ; Anna, George E., 
Lou Dorcas, Adaline, William J. Miles, Jr. 
Bebecca J. and Bell. Mr. Miles owns 160 
acres of land, well cultivated and well im- 
proved. He has always carried on black- 
smithing, and is the inventor of the plow 
known as the "Captain Plow," used ex- 
tensively in Harrison, Floyd, Crawford and 
other counties. 

His son William manufactures edge- 
tools in Newton, Kan., known as the "Da- 
mascus process temper." 



JOHN W. MORGAN was born in Du- 
Bois county, Indiana, October 12, 1844, 
and is the son of William and Margaret 
(Robertson) Morgan ; the former was also 
born in DuBois county, June 2, 1822, and 
the latter a native of Kentucky, and a 
daughter of Addison and Eliza Robertson. 

William Morgan served in the late war, 
enlisted in the Forty-ninth Regiment of 
Indiana Infantry, and was discharged in 
September, 1865, his term of service hav- 
ing expired. He died in 1887, at the age 
of sixty-five years. 

John W., the subject of this sketch, was 
the oldest of eight children. He was raised 
on the farm and received his education in the 
common schools of the neighborhood. At 
the commencement of the war he enlisted 
in Co. D, Capt. Daily, Fifty-third Indiana 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



177 



Infantry, commanded by Col. Walter Q. 
Gresharn. He was mustered into the ser- 
vice January 7, 1862, and was discharged 
February 22, 1865, his term of service hav- 
ing expired. 

At the conclusion of the war he located 
at Elizabeth, Harrison county, and on the 
25th of February, 1866, he married Miss 
Mary Jane Storms, a daughter of Michael 
and Annetta Storms. She died June 6, 
1876, and he married a second time to 
Miss Milarna Curry, a daughter of Isaiah 
and Sarah Curry; the former a native of 
Pennsylvania, emigrated to Indiana and 
joined the army in 1864, in the Thirty- 
eighth regiment. He was in the hospital 
at Goldsborough, N. C, and was discharged 
in 1865. 

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (first marriage) 
had three children, viz : William D., born 
November 19, 1S68; Cora, Feb. 16, 1871, 
and Benj. F., September 28, 1873. By 
his second marriage Mr. Morgan has had 
two children — Jasper L., born May 26, 
1878, and Mary B., November 23, 1885. 

Mr. Morgan saw some hard service 
while in the army. He was at Shiloh ; in 
the siege of Corinth, and on the skirmish 
line continually fighting for eleven days, 
using five hundred cartridges. After the 
siege he scouted through to Memphis, 
marched back to Bolivar, then to Holly 
Springs, then to Germantown, then again 
to Bolivar — was several times engaged 
with the enemy; at Tallahatchie fought 
seven hours — his regiment losing 113 men 
— captured four pieces of artillery and six 
hundred men. He was next at Vicksburg, 
then to Grand Gulf, back to Vicksburg, 
and there at its fall. From this time on 
duty constantly until his term of service 
expired. 



JAMES NOBLE, Governor of State of 
Indiana, was bom at Battletown, Va. He 
emigrated to the frontier when a youth, 
first settling in Kentucky, and afterward 
in Indiana. When the State was admitted 
into the Union he was chosen a United 
States Senator, and held the position until 
his death, February 26, 1831, a period of 
fifteen years. His decease occurred in 
Washington City. 



HUGH A. PATTERSON was bom in 
this (Harrison) county, March 11, 1826, and 
is a son of Tbomas and Jane (Mc Williams) 
Patterson ; the former born in Virginia about 
1783, died in Harrison county in 1853 — 
the latter was also a Virginian, and died in 
this county in 1872. Hugh A., whose name 
heads this sketch, was the youngest in a 
family of eleven children. He was reared 
on a farm and received an excellent educa- 
tion, the best the schools of his neighbor- 
hood could afford. 

He was married Oct. 14, 1849, to Miss 
Malvina Patterson, a daughter of Alexander 
and Lydia Patterson, and was born Sept. 1, 
1825, and raised in Kentucky. Hugh en- 
listed Nov. 11, 1861, in Co. D, Fourth Ken- 
tucky Cavalry, and was discharged Oct. 28, 
1862, by reason of disability incurred in 
the field. His service was hard and severe 
while in the army. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson 
have had four children born as follows : 
Francis E., June 2, 1851 ; Richard T., 
Dec. 11, 1854, and died on 22d of same 
month ; Eliza J., Feb. 22, 1856, and James 
C, Feb. 22, 1859. After the war Mr. Pat- 
terson returned home to Hardin county, 
Kentucky, where he farmed until 1866, 



178 



HARRISON COUNTY 



when be emigrated to Harrison county, Ind., 

remaining here about two years, when he 
moved to Illinois and thence to Nebraska. 

He remained in that State until 1883, 
when he removed back to Harrison county 
and purchased a farm in Webster town- 
ship, where he has since resided and is set- 
tled for life. 



WASHINGTON POOR was born in 
Gallatin county, Ohio, December 25, 1816, 
and is the son of George and Catherine 
(Hoffas) Poor ; the former was a native of 
North Carolina, and removed to Ohio in 
an early day. He was a blacksmith by 
trade, and to this combined farming, which 
he carried on rather extensively. About 
1827 he came to Indiana and settled in 
Madison county, where he died some years 
later. Washington Poor remained on his 
father's farm, and received such education 
as the neighborhood could boast. In 1838 
he was married to Miss Mary Street, by 
whom he had three children, George, 
Joseph and Peter, all three of whom en- 
listed in the army during the late war, and 
one of whom was killed, and another died 
of disease contracted while in the service. 
His wife died, and on the 15th of October, 
1852, Mr. Poor married Miss Susan Cap- 
pick. Her children were as follows : Adam, 
born December 27, 1857 ; Mary E. born 
February 2, 1859 ; George W., born August 
2, 1860 ; Sarah A., born October 24, 1862 ; 
and Cyntha E., born September 24, 1864. 
Adam, Mary E. and George W. died within 
twenty-four hours of each other, one at 7 
o'clock p. m., one the next morning, and the 
third at 7 o'clock p. m. following, and were 
all buried in one grave. Mrs. Poor died, 
and in 1865 Mr. Poor was married for the 



third time, to Mrs. Mary Harrison, widow 
of John Harrison, of Harrison county. 
Mr. Poor removed to Harrison county, 
then to Pulaski county, Ind., then back to 
Madison county, and finally to Harrison 
county, where he now resides in Taylor 
township, where he has an excellent farm 
and a pleasant home, and he and his wife 
dwell together there in peace and quiet, 
patiently waiting the summons to the 
"Better Land." He enlisted in the army 
at the breaking out of the war, in Co. D, 
Thirty-fourth Infantry, in July, 1861. He 
was discharged in October following, on 
account of disability. 



Th. POSEY, Governor of the Territory 
of Indiana, was a native of Virginia. He 
was born not far from Alexandria, on the 
9th of July, 1750. In 1774 he was engaged 
in the expedition originated by Dunmore, 
the last royal Governor of Virginia, against 
the Indians, being present at the battle of 
Point Pleasant. On the outbreak of the 
Revolution he was engaged on the patriot 
side, fought against Dunmore, his former 
commander, and afterward joined Wash- 
ington's army. He was at the battle of 
Bemis Heights, as captain under Colonel 
Morgan, and his men did excellent serivce 
as sharpshooters in that conflict. In 
1779 he was colonel of Eleventh Virginia 
regiment, and afterward commanded a bat- 
tery under Gen. Wayne. In 1793 he was 
appointed brigadier-general of the Army 
of the Northwest, and, being pleased 
with the appearance of the new country, 
settled in Kentucky not long after. In 
that State he was a member of the 
State Senate, being the president of that 
body from November 4, 1805, to November 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



179 



3, 1806, and in addition performed the 
duties of Lieutenant-Governor. He removed 
to Louisiana in 1812, and was elected to 
the United States Senate from that State. 
He was appointed Governor of Indiana in 
1813, by President Madison, and served 
till 1816. He died in Shawneetown, 111., 
March 19, 1818. 



WILLIAM H. REEDER, M. D., was born 
November 4, 1851, and is a native of Har- 
rison county, Indiana. He is a son of 
Charles B. and Sarah E. (Gilham) Eeeder, 
the former a native of Pennsylvania, and 
the latter of Harrison county. The elder 
Reeder came to the county with his pa- 
rents when he was but a boy ; was a farmer, 
served quite a time as justice of the peace 
and died in 1868, at the age of forty-five. 
Mrs. Reeder's father, Levi Gilham, was a 
native of Virginia, and settled in Heth 
township (this county) in an early day. 
He was a soldier in the War of 1812. Will- 
iam H. was reared on his father's farm, 
and educated in the common schools and 
at Corydon. He taught school seven or 
eight years, and attended school in the 
meantime at Lebanon, Ohio; read medi- 
cine with Dr. Charles Mitchell, and entered 
the Kentucky School of Medicine in 1876, 
graduating the next year. He commenced 
practice at New Amsterdam, in this coun- 
ty, and in 1884 attended a course at Mi- 
ami College, at Cincinnati, after which he 
returned to his practice. He was married 
in 1876, to Miss Kate Wilson, a daughter 
of James Wilson, Esq. She died in 1882, 
leaving two children, one of whom is living 
— George. In 1883 he married Miss Lucy 
Dawson, of this county. They have three 
children, viz : Maud, William and Benja- 



min. Dr. Reeder is one of the influential 
citizens of the county, and is an excellent 
physician with a large practice. 



DR. WILLIAM READER (deceased), of 
Corydon, one of the most prominent and 
successful physicians of his time in South- 
ern Indiana, was born April 13, 1819, in 
Harrison county. He was born and reared 
on the farm, attending the schools of the 
neighborhood, and subsequently entered the 
State University, at Bloomington, and 
graduated with honor from that institution 
four years afterward. He immediately 
began the study of medicine under Dr. 
Mitchell, of Corydon. In 1840 he entered 
the Louisville University. In 1841 he be- 
gan the practice of his profession at Livo- 
nia, Washington county, Indiana. He 
moved to Grassy Valley, Harrison county, 
in 1843, and continued successfully in his 
practice till 1850, meantime returning to 
Louisville University, where he graduated 
in his profession, and returned to Grassy 
Valley in 1859, when he removed to Leav- 
enworth, Crawford county, and remained 
but a few months, when he again removed 
and located at Corydon. In connection 
with his practice as physician he was also 
engaged in the drug business, selling that 
out in 1874, and continued still to practice 
up to his death, April 10, 1888. He held 
the office of Pension Examiner for a num- 
ber of years. He was a prominent mem- 
ber of the order of Knights of Pythias. He 
was an active and influential member of 
the Presbyterian Church. 

In his disposition he was charitable 
and liberal to a fault, ever ready to assist 
the poor and needy. During the war he 
went to Shiloh, and did hospital service 



180 



HARRISON COUNTY 



for some time in taking care of the sick and 
wounded, and was a man universally liked. 

He married Miss Catherine, daughter of 
Wilford Heth, who held the office of County 
Clerk of Harrison county for fifty years. Mrs. 
Reader died in 18S5, and was born Septem- 
ber 17, 1822. Of this marriage there are 
living two children, Charles H. and Miss 
Anna E. Eeader. 

Charles H. and Sarah Applegate were 
Dr. Reader's parents, born respectively in 
England and Pennsylvania. Dr. Reader, 
while living, took an active interest in edu- 
cational matters, and for many years acted 
as Trustee of the School Board of the town 
of Corydon. 



JOHN REDICK is a native of Louisville, 
Ky., and was born March 31,1846. He 
came to Indiana with his parents when 
only four years old, and located in Harri- 
son county. His parents were Philip and 
Mary (Fleshman) Redick, both natives of 
Germany. He attended the common schools 
of the county, and, after completing his edu- 
cation, learned the trade of a cooper. This 
he followed for eleven years in Harrison 
county, and in 1870 went to Louisville, 
where he engaged in the grocery business, 
and remained there for six years. He then 
returned to Harrison county, and opened 
a general store at Lanesville, in which busi- 
ness he is still engaged, and in which he 
has been quite successful. He is school 
trustee of Lanesville, and a member of the 
Lutheran Church. He was married, in 
1 870, to Miss Christina Voelker, of Har- 
rison county. They have four children, 
named as follows : Anna C, Julius C, 
Clara E. and John E. Philip Redick, the 
father of subject, came to the United States 
in 1831, and located in Washington, Pa., 



from whence he came to Jeffersonville, 
Ind., with his parents, where they died. 
He was a cooper by trade, and also carried 
on farming. He died in 1886, at the age 
of sixty-five years. Mrs. Christina Voel- 
ker Redick was a daughter of William 
Voelker, who came from Germany in 1835, 
and located in Harrison county, where he 
died in 1870, at the age of fifty-nine years. 
He was a prominent man and was greatly 
missed in his neighborhood. 



GEORGE W. ROBINSON is a native of 
Kentucky, and was born Dec. 25, 1830. 
He is a son of William and Sarah (Lyon) 
Robinson ; the former born in New York in 
1774; the latter born in 1764, and died in 
1861. The elder Robinson came from Ire- 
land in an early day. He served in the 
Indian wars of the times, and was with 
Gen. Wayne at the battle of Fallen Timber 
in 1795, which virtually closed the Revolu- 
tionary war, though it had been declared 
over a decade before. He died in 1853, 
full of years and full of honors. He had 
settled in Kentucky, and in 1834 removed 
to Harrison county, settling in Boone 
township. George W., the subject of this 
sketch, was the youngest of a family of six 
children. He was brought up on a farm, 
and received such education as the limited 
facilities of the county afforded. When the 
war of the Rebellion commenced he enlisted 
in Co. K, Fifty-eighth Regiment, Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, Sept. 23, 1864, and 
was discharged June 30, 1865. He was 
with Sherman in his "March to the Sea," 
and participated in all the hardships as 
well as the fighting of the wonderful cam- 
paign. He was at the surrender of Col. 
Joe Johnston, and participated in the grand 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



181 



review at Washington after the war was 
over. He then turned his arms into agri- 
cultural implements, and resumed farming. 
He was married April 17, 1S56, to Miss 
Elizabeth Thompson, of Harrison county, 
and a daughter of Benjamin and Maria 
Thompson ; the former a native of Harrison 
county, a farmer and an exemplary mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church; the latter, 
Maria Brown Thompson, was a daughter 
of Robert Thompson, who was born on the 
ocean when his parents were in transitu to 
America. He settled in Kentucky, but 
later removed to Harrison county, Ind. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bobinson have had twelve 
children bom to them, viz : Ann M., 
Lemuel C, Benjamin T., William W., Ulys- 
ses G., Henry, Ellendor, Cora S., Mary A., 
George A., James H. and Edgar B. Ann 
died Aug. 14, 1858; William W. died Feb. 
13, 1864, and Henry died March 28, 1868. 
Mr. Bobinson has a fruit farm of eighty 
acres of land, which is in a high state of 
cultivation, yielding much fine fruit. 



WILLIAM S. BOGEBS was the fourth 
in a family of twelve children born to 
James and Arrenor (Cromwell) Bogers ; the 
former a native of Virginia, and the latter 
of Harrison county. James Bogers was 
born in 1802, and was the son of Thomas 
Bogers, also a native of Virginia. James 
came West with his parents in an early 
day, when but a child. But few settlers 
preceded them, and his father had pick 
and choice of land, and chose the hill coun- 
try as best adapted to agricultural pur- 
suits. James married Arrenor Cromwell, 
a daughter of Fielding and Sarah Crom- 
well ; they were from Fennsylvania and were 
lineal descendants of Oliver Cromwell 



("Old Noll"), the "Frotector." Her grand- 
father, Louis Cromwell, at one time owned 
a large tract of land where Louisville, Ky., 
now stands. 

He donated a lot for a cemetery ; but the 
conditions having been violated, the ground 
reverts to the original owner. James Bog- 
ers died July 11, 1885, at an advanced 
age. William S., the subject, was born 
August 30, 1830, was brought up ou his 
father's farm, and received a common- 
school education. In September, 1864, he 
enlisted in Co. G, Fifty-eighth Ind. Vol. 
Infantry, and was discharged in June, 
1 865, at the expiration of his term of serv- 
ice. 

He was married October 9, 1855, to Miss 
Mary Jameson, born May 22, 1839, in 
Harrison county, and a daughter of Bich- 
ard and Mary Ann Jameson ; the former 
born in Pennsylvania about 1791, and 
died in Harrison county in 1861 ; the 
latter is still living. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Bogers were born nine children, as follows : 
Thomas, April 15, 1857; Sarah, May 2, 
1859; Beener, January 11, 1861; Annie, 
June 26, 1864; Katie, July 30, 1868; Liz- 
zie, February 18, 1870 ; James, October 12, 
1872; Claudia, June 18, 1875; and Clar- 
ence, October 8, 1878. Katie died April 
15, 1869, and James died July 15, 1875. 

At the close of the war Mr. Bogers re- 
turned to his farm and has continued 
farming ever since. He is an energetic 
man and an exemplary citizen. 



JOHN SAMPLE is a sample of a good 
old stock. He was born in Clinton county, 
Indiana, January 15, 1S43, and is a sou 
of David and Harriet (Millspaugh) Sam- 
ple ; the former born in Butler county, 



182 



HARRISON COUNTY 



Ohio, whose father was a native of Lon- 
donderry, Ireland, and came to America 
in an early day, settling first in Pennsyl- 
vania, then in Butler county, Ohio, where 
he resided until his death at a good old age. 
Harriet Millspaugh Sample was the daugh- 
ter of Peter and Hyla Millspaugh, and a 
native of New York. She was the only 
daughter in a family of twelve children. 
She educated herself under many difficul- 
ties for a teacher, and followed teaching un- 
til her marriage. John Sample, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was the youngest of 
seven children, and was but two years old 
when his parents died in 1845. He was 
brought up by his mother's parents. In 
June, 1861, he enlisted in Co. B, First Ken- 
tucky Infantry, and at once entered upon 
active service. He participated in all the 
battles engaged in by the First Kentucky 
regiment up to November, 1861, when he was 
discharged for disability, but in a short time 
re-enlisted in Co. C, Fiftieth Ohio Infantry. 
He served in this regiment until his term 
service expired in September, 1865, hav- 
ing a part in about all the fighting done 
by the Fiftieth Regiment, being wounded 
in the Atlanta campaign. Mr. Sample, 
during his army life, was captured at the 
battle of Franklin. He was held a prison- 
er four weeks, and while a forced march 
to another prison he broke ranks and made 
his escape, notwithstanding he was fired 
at and pursued a considerable distance by a 
company of Infantry. He secreted himself 
in hollow stump within the enemy's lines, 
where he remained four days without food, 
and until the enemy renewed their march, 
making it safe for him to leave his hiding 
place. After many hardships and risks he 
finally reached Nashville, Tenn., 150 miles 
from his place of escape in Alabama. He 
made the above trip on foot and alone. 
At the close of the war he commenced 



teaching school. For some time he taught 
in Ohio, and then went to Illinois, where he 
continued to direct the "young idea how to 
shoot." Finally he came to Indiana and 
settled in Taylor township, Harrison coun- 
ty. He was married to Miss Maria Craft, 
a very successful school teacher, a daugh- 
ter of James and Maria Craft, natives of 
Pennsylvania and Virginia respectively. 
Mr. and Mrs. Sample had seven children, 
five of whom are living. Hyla J., born 
March 5, 1871, and Hattie J., born March 
23, 1S78, are dead. The others were born 
as follows: Charles S., June 1, 1873; 
Elmer A., March 13, 1876; John D., June 
10, 1S81 ; Nellie N., July 18, 1885, and 
Gracie M., July 21, 18S8. 



ISAAC SANDS was born in Boone 
township, Harrison county, Ind., May 1, 
1834, and is the son of Dorsey and Eliza- 
beth (Mussulman) Sands ; the former was 
born in Kentucky about the year of 1800, 
and was a son of William Sands, a native 
of Ireland, who emigrated to America in 
an early day. Dorsey Sands was a mill- 
wright, and also followed farming. 

He emigrated to Harrison county about 
1810, with his parents. Elizabeth Mussul- 
man Sands was born February 14, 1808, 
and died June 24, 1888. She was a daugh- 
ter of Daniel and Christina Mussulman, 
natives of Pennsylvania. Isaac Sands, the 
subject of this sketch, was the seventh in 
a family of fourteen children ; was raised 
on a farm, receiving such education as the 
common schools afforded. 

He married Phila A. Dewees, November 
14, 1852, a daughter of John and Sarah 
Dewees, natives of Kentucky ; their par- 
ents were natives of Virginia. Mr. and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



183 



Mrs. Sands have had eleven children, as 
follows: Martha A., June 2, 1853; Sarah 
E., September 8, 1855 (died August 26, 
1857); Daniel W., October 7, 1857; Mary 
E., February 13, 1S59 (died March 6, 
1859) ; Rachel J., August 20, 1861 ; Georgie 
E., March 1, 1865 ; Ida A., November 23, 
1866 ; William H., March 24, 1868 (died 
November 25, 1871) ; Charles F., March 5, 
1870; Elnora B., February 9, 1872; and 
John D., October 20, 1874. 

Mr. Sands enlisted August 20, 1862, in 
Co. F, Eighty-first Indiana Vol. Infantry, 
and was discharged June 13, 1865, the 
war having closed. Becoming disabled he 
was sent to the hospital for several montbs, 
and never was in active service afterward. 

Mr. Sands is a lineal descendant of Rev. 
Edwin Sandys, one of tbe translators of the 
Bible from the Greek, and, in acknowledg- 
ment of the service, was made Archbishop 
of York. Declining to support the Church 
of England, he came to America in 1636, 
and his estate was confiscated to the En- 
glish Crown. A few years ago, however, 
it was, by special act of Parliament, deeded 
back to the legal representatives of the 
Archbishop, and is to-day worth some 
$75,000,000. 

The corruption of the name Sandys to 
Sands, caused considerable delay in trac- 
ing lineage ; but this has been corrected 
and the whole is now in a fair way for 
adjustment and recovery. Mr. Sands, 
after the war was over, returned to Harri- 
son county, and took up the old farm life. 



DAVID SHAFFER was born in Harrison 
county, Ind., February 27, 1851, and is a 
son of John and Rebecca (Pitman) Shaf- 
fer ; the former born in Crawford county, 



and the latter in Harrison county. David, 
the subject was reared a farmer, and re- 
ceived a limited education. He was mar- 
ried in November, 1872, to Miss Mary E. 
Davis, a daughter of Samuel B. and Mary 
(Breedon) Davis, both natives of Harrison 
county. Mary Davis Shaffer was born in 
October, 1851. She is the mother of seven 
children, viz : Floyd, Charles E., John P., 
Daniel 0., Ona B., Samuel J. and Cordie E. 
Mr. Shaffer owns 240 acres of fine land, well 
improved and in an excellent state of culti- 
vation. He devotes considerable time and 
attention to raising fine stock, horses, cattle, 
sheep and hogs. Mr. Shaffer is a mem- 
ber of Corydon Lodge of Odd Fellows. 



GEORGE K. SHERMAN was born in 
Shenandoah county, Va., Sept. 15, 1820, 
and is the son of Jacob and Margaret 
(Boyer) Sherman, natives of Virginia. 

They came to Indiana in 1824, and set- 
tled in Harrison county, where the remain- 
der of their lives were passed. The former 
died in 1846 at the age of fifty-three years, 
and the latter in 1863 at the age of sixty- 
seven years. They had a family of five 
children, viz : Eliza Ann, Mary Ann, Re- 
becca, Jacob and the subject of this sketch. 
Eliza Ann married Robert Barr, of Capon 
Springs, Va. She now lives in Missouri. 
Her husband died in 1885; Mary Ann 
married Robert Gwartney. He died and 
she married John Simler, a farmer of this 
county, and who has represented this 
county one term in the Legislature ; she 
died in 1880. Rebecca married George 
McCarty, a farmer of this county, he died 
in 1875 ; Jacob married Martha, a daugh- 
ter of Reverend Jacob Lopp in 1847, and 



184 



HARRISON COUNTY 



died in 18S0, and bis wife died some time 
later in 1884, leaving seven children. 

George K., the subject of this sketch, was 
reared on the farm and received a common- 
school education. He has engaged in 
several pursuits, but principally farming 
and milling, merchandizing and trading 
on the river to New Orleans and inter- 
mediate towns. He and his brother would 
buy up produce, load boats and take them 
to New Orleans. He was in partnership 
a part of the time with his brother Jacob. 
In 1863, when the Confederate General, 
Morgan, crossed the Ohio river into Indi- 
ana, he landed on the land of Mr. Sherman 
and his brother, at the mouth of Buck 
creek. About 300 of his cavalry stopped 
with Mr. Sherman, got provisions and fed 
their horses, and when they left took a 
mule and a horse belonging to Mr. Sher- 
man in payment of what they had received. 
This was perhaps a prophetic knowledge 
of what Mr. Sherman's namesake would 
do in his "March to the Sea," and was 
partly in requital. 

Mr. Sherman is one of the old and re- 
spectable citizens of Harrison county, and 
prides in his descent from an old Virginia 
family. He is popular and well liked 
among his neighbors. He is an Odd Fel- 
low, and a member of the M. E. Church. 
Charitable as he has been prosperous, he 
is a liberal contributor to the poor and 
needy and to the church. 



JAMES W. SHIGLEY, of Scott town- 
ship, Harrison county, was born near 
Lowell, Ohio, on the 25th of March, 1845, 
and is a son of Enoch and Catherine (Shaf- 
fer) Shigley, natives of Virginia. The for- 
mer moved to Crawford county, Ind., in 



1854, and located five miles from Leaven- 
worth. Both he and his wife are of Ger- 
man descent. 

James W. was reared principally in 
Crawford county, and received such educa- 
tion as the schools afforded. In 1863 he 
joined an independent company known as 
Charles Lamb's Mounted Scouts. This 
organization remained out nine months, 
and was mustered out in 1864. He then 
returned to the farm, and in 1881 came to 
Scott township, this county. He owns 240 
acres of good land, well improved and in a 
fine state of cultivation. 

He was married in 1864 to Miss Lydia 
Botbrock, born in Crawford county, Ind., 
and a daughter of H. P. Eothrock, Esq., a 
native of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Shigley 
have eight children, viz : Eosa MarshaU, 
Clara I., Edward C, Alva D., James 0., 
Julis C, Bertha M. and Ethel May. 



JAMES I. SIBEBT was born in Crawford 
county, Indiana, July 20, 1843, and is a 
son of Hiram J. and Harriet A. (Miller) 
Sibert; the former a native of Virginia, 
came to Indiana in an early day with his 
parents, and settled in Crawford county, 
near the Wyandotte Cave ; the latter was 
born in Tennessee, but came to Indiana, 
with her father's family, when quite small. 
James I., the subject, was reared on the 
farm and educated in the common schools. 
At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the 
Federal army, in Co. E, Eighty-first Begi- 
ment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and on 
the 13th day of June, 1865, he was dis- 
charged at Camp Harker, Tenn., his term 
of service having expired. He participated 
in the following battles : Stone Biver, Chick- 
amauga, Besacca and Kenesaw Mountain. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



185 



He was wounded at Chickarnauga and also 
at Kenesaw Mountain. After the war 
was over he returned to his plow, and in No- 
vember following his discharge from the 
army he was married to Miss Laura Mc- 
Cullum, a daughter of James and Abigail 
(Sharpe) McCullum, natives of Tennessee. 
Tbey removed to Kentucky, and later they 
came to Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Sibert 
have had seven children, as follows : Henry 
W., Willis I., Mary A., Joseph 0., Charles 
H., Ida E. and William J. Mr. Sibert 
owns 117 acres of good land in Scott town- 
ship, and is an enterprising farmer. He is 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and votes the Republican ticket. 



JOHN SIMLER was born November 29, 
1812, in this (Harrison) county, on the old 
Charlestown road, six miles northeast of 
Corydon. He is a son of John and Susana 
(Winter) Simler ; the former a native of 
Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Indiana 
in 1809 and settled in Franklin township, 
where he died in 18-16 ; the latter a daugh- 
ter of Christopher Winter, also a native of 
Pennsylvania, and an early settler in this 
county, and who died in 184-1. John, the 
subject, was one of a family of eight chil- 
dren, and was brought up on a farm, and 
received the meager education to be ob- 
tained in that day in the country schools. 
He was married, in 1836, to Miss Isabel 
Stephenson, a daughter of James and 
Elizabeth Stephenson, natives of Virginia. 
They have had born to them twelve chil- 
dren, four boys and eight girls — all of 
whom are living. They are as follows : 
Elizabeth, Mary Ann, John J., James S., 
Elmira, Sarah, Emily, David A. (at home), 
Clara, Seth W., Atlanta and Laura M. 



Mr. Simler served one term in the State 
Legislature, being the first native-born citi- 
zen to represent Harrison county. The 
Constitutional Convention was in session at 
the time, which brought him in contact 
with many prominent men throughout the 
State. He is a member of Mauckport Ma- 
sonic Lodge, and is at present a justice of 
the peace. He and his family are members 
of the Methodist Church. He received a 
paralytic stroke some years ago, which has 
confined him at home. He has always af- 
filiated with the Democratic party, and 
cast his first Presidential vote for Van 
Buren in 1836. He owns 400 acres of ex- 
cellent land, of which he has fifteen acres 
in fine fruit. 



JAMES S. SIMLER was born April 3, 
1843, in this county, and is a son of Isa- 
bel and John (Stephenson) Simler, also na- 
tives of this county. He was reared on the 
farm and educated in the common schools. 
In September, 1862, he enlisted in the 
Thirty-fourth Kentucky Infantry, remain- 
ing in the service until the close of the war. 
His regiment was on reserve duty a good 
deal, and he participated in no severe bat- 
tles, but was in a number of skirmishes. 
He was sick for sixteen months and con- 
tracted rheumatism, from which he is still 
a sufferer. After Ms return home he re- 
ceived a paralytic stroke, which made him 
a cripple. 

He is a member of the W. T. Jones Post, 
G. A. R., at New Amsterdam. He was mar- 
ried October 6, 1866, to Martha J. Burrows, 
born in October, 1851, a daughter of Solo- 
mon Burrows, a native of Pennsylvania, a 
shoemaker by trade and a soldier in the 
late war. They have two children : Stella 



186 



HARRISON COUNTY 



May, born May 13, 1873, and John S., 
born February 28, 1877; two others died 
in infancy. 

Mr. and Mrs. Simler are members of the 
Methodist Church. Mr. Simler owns 87 
acres of land, about twenty of which are in 
fruit, mostly apples, comprising the finest 
varieties. 



ALYIN E. SMITH, M. D., was born in 
this county (Harrison), February 22, 1862, 
and is a son of Samuel S. and Anna (Go- 
chenour) Smith, natives of Harrison coun- 
ty and Virginia. His grandfather, Thomas 
Smith, came from Westmoreland comity, 
Virginia, to this county, in 1807, and lo- 
cated in the southern part of what is now 
Harrison township. The subject, Alviu E., 
was reared on his father's farm, educated in 
this county, and read medicine with Dr. 
John E. Lawson, of Corydon. He entered 
the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louis- 
ville, in 1882, from which he graduated 
two years later. He commenced j)ractiee 
at Mauckport, in this county, and has'won 
a good practice. He is a Democrat in pol- 
ities, and an Odd Fellow, and a trustee of 
the lodge at Mauckport. 

He was nominated by his political friends, 
the Democrats, for Circuit Clerk of the 
county, in the fall of 18S8, and after a 
bitter contest and hard fight he was elect- 
ed. He assumed the duties of the office 
immediately after the election. 



CHARLES W. SMITH was born in 
Butler county, Pa., March 7, 1811, and is 
a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cunning- 
ham) Smith, the former a native of Ireland. 



He emigrated to America and settled in 
Cumberland county, Pa., where he married. 
Believing in Horace Greeley's advice to go 
West, he came to Indiana, aad after wan- 
dering around for a time, settled in Harri- 
son county, which was then almost a wil- 
derness. Here the remainder of his life 
was spent. Charles W. was reared on his 
father's farm and received such education 
as was to be obtained in the country 
schools. January 29, 1839, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Lavina Zenor, a daughter of 
John W. Zenor, who was born in 1793, and 
married to Mary Mcintosh. He was a 
man of considerable prominence, and rep- 
resented Harrison county several times in 
the legislature. He was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1850 ; died 
May 23, 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have 
had three children, viz : John Thomas, 
Mary Elizabeth and Eliza M. John T. re- 
ceived a collegiate education, and served 
as assistant superintendent of schools, un- 
der Superintendent Bloss, of Indianapolis. 
He secured a position as postal clerk under 
President Garfield, from which he was pro- 
moted to clerkship in the Adjutant Gener- 
al's office at Washington City, where he 
still is engaged. After giving his children 
each a good education, and also a good 
farm to start them in life, Mr. Smith still 
has sufficient of the world's goods to make 
him and his good wife comfortable the re- 
mainder of their days. They are exem- 
plary members of the Presbyterian Church, 
and have 'been for many years. 



CAPT. WILLIAM SONNER was bom 
in Shenandoah county, Va., in 1798 ; he 
came to this county with his father, Philip 
P. Sonner, who was also a Virginian by 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



187 



birth, in 1817, settling in the Ripperdan 
Valley, Washington township. Prominently 
among the early families who settled in 
that locality about the same time, might be 
mentioned the Lopps, Franks, Flesbmans, 
who settled in 1S05; John Eipperdan, who 
who came in 1807; the Mancks, who were 
among the settlers of Mauckport, and the 
Applegates, who settled 1807. 

In 1825, William Sonner bought the farm 
he now lives on, and has continuously 
lived there ever since, and is now in his 
ninety-first year. 

He was married September 16, 1824, to 
Miss Mary, daughter of John Eipperdan, 
Kentuckian by birth. He has reared a 
family of eight children. 

In the early history of the State he served 
as Captain in the State Militia, subsequently 
served as Major and Quartermaster of the 
regiment, and was conspicuous as an officer 
until the regiment was disbanded. 



JOHN P. SONNEE was born in Harrison 
county, Jan. 17, 1829, and is a son of 
William and Mary (Eipperdan) Sonner; 
the former was a native of Virginia, born 
in the Shenandoah valley near where 
Sheridan made his famous ride.' The 
Eipperdans were from Kentucky, and were 
of German origin. William Sonner came 
to Indiana in 1817, and settled in the 
Eipperdan Valley, where the family has 
since lived. John Eipperdan, grandfather 
of John P. Sonner, died in 184-1, and his 
wife in 1861. John P., the subject of this 
sketch, was brought up on a farm and edu- 
cated at the State University, at Blooming- 
ton, but failed to graduate on account of 
ill health. 

In 1861 he married Sarah Faith, daugh- 



ter of Jacob Faith, who is still living near 
Mauckport. He was a Kentuckian by 
birtb, and emigrated to Indiana about 
1824. He has two brothers living near 
him : Thomas, aged 83 years, and Abram, 
81 years, and he himself, 79 years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sonner have had bom to 
them ten children, viz: Homer, Medora, 
Mary A., Bertram (deceased), Horace (died 
in infancy), John P., Claudia E., William 
H. (deceased), Sarah E. and Jacob T., the 
youngest. Medora is the wife of Amos 
Lemon, clerk of the court. Mr. Sonner 
has been township trustee two years ; town- 
ship assessor two years; justice of the 
peace three terms, serving his third term 
now, and has been clerk of the Indiana 
Legislature two sessions, 1853-55. He 
and his family are members of the Method- 
ist church, and in politics he affiliates 
with the Republican party. 

He was a candidate for the Legislature in 
1856, against John Lemon, Sr., and was 
only defeated by 101 votes, running ahead 
of the State ticket. He was nominated in 
1868 for clerk of the court, but declined 
the race three weeks before the election. 
His vocation in life, aside from the offices 
he has held, has been school-teaching ; ami 
he ranks as one of the best teachers of his 
day, and one of the best-educated men in 
the township. 



JAMES W. STALLINGS was bom on 
a farm in Webster township, Harrison coun- 
ty, Indiana, October 30, 1832, and is the 
son of William and Nancy R. (Rogers) 
Stallings ; the former born in Butler county, 
Kentucky, January 21, 1782, and the lat- 
ter in Virginia, December 30, 1791. Will- 
iam Stalhngs was the son of Samuel and 
Sarah Stallings. He was a farmer, re- 



188 



HARRISON COUNTY 



moved to Harrison county, Indiana, and 
died October 22, 1868. His wife, Nancy 
Rogers Stalliugs, was a daughter of Thomas 
and Sarah Rogers, and died November 2G, 
1875. To them were born thirteen chil- 
dren, of whom James W. was the youngest 
but one. He (James W., the subject) was 
brought up on the farm and educated in 
the common schools. He was married to 
Eleanor Wright, August 30, 1855, a daugh- 
ter of William and Melinda Wright, and 
was born August 31, 1838. They had 
two children, Woodford J., born June 29, 
1856; John E., February 25, 1858, and 
died November 2, 1884. Mrs. Stallings 
died May 22, 1860, and October 17, 1861, 
Mr. Stallings married Alizan Abel, daugh- 
ter of Peter and Mary Abel, natives of 
Harrison county. To them were born 
seven children, viz: Lizzie, July 30, 1862; 
Ulysses G., May 1, 1865; James P., De- 
cember 7, 1868; Charles, July 11, 1871; 
Frank 0., June 9, 1876; Minnie A., De- 
cember 19, 1878, and Lavina E., Ajn-il 17, 
1880. Mr. Stallings enlisted September 
23, 1864, in Co. G, Fifty-eighth Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged 
June 25, 1865, by expiration of his term of 
service. 

After the war was over he returned 
to his home and resumed his farm duties. 
He now lives on the old homestead, entered 
by his father, and in fact lives in the house 
in which he was born. All of bis children 
but two were born in the same house. He 
owns 160 acres of land and is a prosperous 
farmer. He is a local minister of the 
M. E. Church, of which he has been a 
member for many years. 



WILFORD STEPHENS was born in 
Boone township, Harrison county, Ind., 



Sept. 21, 1831, and is a son of Alfred 
Stephens, and a grandson of Nathaniel 
Stephens. The latter was a soldier in the 
War of 1812, serving all through it and 
taking part in most of its battles. His wife 
was Elizabeth Fitzgerald. They had but 
one child Alfred Stephens. The latter was 
reared on a farm and received but the 
limited educational facilities of that time. 
He became a steamboat pilot, and followed 
it for a number of years. He married 
Elizabeth Stephens, a daughter of John 
and Stacy (Tull) Stephens. To them were 
born ten children, of whom Wilford, the 
subject of this sketch, was the third. He 
was brought up on the farm and educated 
in the common schools. He married Miss 
Elizabeth Crosier, May 14, 1856. She was 
born Oct. 2, 1833, and is the daughter of 
Adam and Sarah Crosier, natives of New 
York, but who settled in Indiana (Harrison 
county) in 1816. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens 
have had seven children, viz : Kate, born 
Feb. 27, 1858; Belle, June 7, I860'; Ann 
Eliza, Oct. 21, 1862; Edna, April 13, 1865; 
Alfred, Nov. 27, 1867; Adam, March 2, 
1870; Mary, Dec. 25, 1872. Mary died 
Aug. 16, 1885, and Adam died Aug. 26, 
1885. Mr. Stephens enlisted in Co. 
E., 144th Regiment of Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry, and served until the close of the 
war, receiving his discharge Aug. 15, 1865. 
After leaving the army he returned home 
and engaged in saw-milling, and in other 
timber enterprises with considerable success 
for ten years, when he disposed of his saw- 
mill and all of his land except forty acres. 
On this he now lives, having comparatively 
retired from active business pursuits. 



WILLIAM H. H. STEPP was born in But- 
ler county, Pa., November 27, 1835, and is 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



189 



a son of Michael and Catherine (Heckhart) 
Stepp, the former born in Northumberland 
county, Pa., in 1797; the latter was also 
born in 1797. The elder Stepp was brought 
up on a farm and received but a limited 
education. To them were born thirteen 
children. About 1S37 they emigrated to 
Missouri, remaining there until 1838, when 
they returned to their old Pennsylvania, 
home. He died in 1877 ; she died in 1882. 
The subject of this sketch, William H. H. 
Stepp, was reared on a farm and was fairly 
educated. He was apprenticed to the 
carpenter's trade, and became a skillful 
workman. At the commencement of the 
war, at the President's first call for troops, 
he enlisted April 20, 1861. He served for 
three months in Thirteenth Pennsylvania 
Infantry, and was discharged, his term hav- 
ing expired. September 11, 18G1, he re-en- 
listed in Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteer Infantry, and served until the 
close of the war. He was discharged 
a First Sergeant, to accept the appoint- 
ment of Second Lieutenant, March 11, 
1805, of Co. B. He was promoted to First 
Lieutenant August 6, 1865. And finally 
discharged September 11, 1865. During 
his service he participated in the following 
general battles and skirmishes : Neal's Bend, 
Hoover's Gap, Lavergne, Stone River, Tulla- 
homa, Dug Gap, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, 
Buzzard Roost, Dalton, Resacca, Burnt 
Hickory, Picket's Mills, Altoona, Pulaski, 
Florence, Kenesaw Mountain, beside numer- 
ous skirmishes. At the conclusion of the war 
he returned to Butler county, Pa., followed 
bis trade of carpenter until 1870, when he 
came West and settled in Harrison county, 
Ind. The same year he married Miss 
Lydia A. Lamb, a daughter of John and 
Martha Lamb, who was born in Harrison 
county. They have had seven children, 
six of whom are still living, viz : Mary C, 



Clara E., Altha A., Jessie J., Julia E., 
Winnie Z. and John C. Mary C. died 
May 27, 1877. 

He has carried on his trade of carpenter- 
ing, and followed farming also, and between 
the two has accumulated considerable pro- 
perty. He is generous, hospitable and 
benevolent, and never took a drink of whisky 
or smoked a cigar or tasted tobacco in his 
life. 



STROTHER M. STOCKSLAGER was 
brought up a "farmer's boy," and, as his 
name indicates, is of German origin. He 
was born on the banks of the Ohio river, 
Mauckport, Harrison county, Ind., May 
7, 1842. 

He received his primary education in the 
common schools of his native county, and 
was a teacher at seventeen years of age. 
He finished his education in the Corydon 
Seminary and the State University, at 
Bloomington. 

He enlisted in the Federal army as a 
private, and was mustered out a Captain in 
the Thirteenth Regiment Indiana Cavalry. 
After the war he studied law and was ad- 
mitted to the bar. 

Upon the recommendation of Congress- 
man M. C. Kerr, President Johnson ap- 
pointed him Assessor of Internal Revenue 
for his District. 

In 1871 he commenced the practice of 
law in Corydon, Ind., and continued at it 
until September, 18S5. He is regarded as 
one of the best lawyers in Southern Indi- 
ana. 

In 1874 he was elected to the State Sen- 
ate, and served on Judiciary Committee, 
taking high rank as a clear-headed legis- 
lator. In 1880 he was elected a Represen- 
tative to the Forty seventh Congress and 



190 



HARRISON COUNTY 



re-elected to the Forty-eighth Congress in 
1882. He was made Chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Public Grounds, and was on the 
Committee on Pensions, also. In Congress 
he was regarded as a man of ability and 
as indefatigable worker. 

At the close of Mr. Stocks! ager's term in 
Congress, the Indiana Congressional Dele- 
gation, together with Vice-President Hen- 
dricks and ex-Senator McDonald, united in 
presenting his name to the President for 
Commissioner of the General Land Office. 

After the appointment of General Sparks 
to that office, he was appointed Assistant 
Commissioner, which position he held until 
his recent promotion to that of Commis- 
sioner. His appointment is generally des- 
ignated as the "right man in the right 
place." Since his appointment, he has in- 
stituted some important reforms in the 
methods of transacting business in his over- 
burdened bureau. His energies have been 
untiringly devoted to the protection of set- 
tlers and home-seekers on the public lands 
of the United States, and against land 
grabbers, cattle syndicates and corporations. 
Although his term in this position will be 
brief, his services there will be worthy of 
favorable comparison with those of his 
illustrious predecessors from Indiana — 
Whitcomb and Hendricks. 

In politics, Captain Stockslager has al- 
ways been a straight-out Democrat of the 
Jefferson type. 

On July 10, 1873, he was married to Miss 
Kate M. Miller, daughter of G. W. Miller, 
of Corydon. 



JAMES E. TABLER is a native of this 
county (Harrison), and was born February 
15, 1834. He is a son of John and Patsey 
( Jones)Tabler, and was brought up on a farm, 
attended the public school, and remained 



on. the farm until 1S64-, when he went to 
Illinois, and spent four years in Livingston 
and Coles counties, farming. He then 
came back to Harrison county and en- 
gaged in stock trading for two years. He 
then worked on a farm, then engaged in 
butchering in Corydon, and in the spring 
of 1878 engaged in hotel and whisky busi- 
ness. In 1880 bought the hotel building 
now kept by P. A. Eurton, but the building 
was burned in 1883, and he rebuilt it. He 
now owns it and the livery stable and 
saloon adjoining it. Mr. Shuck has the 
livery stable rented. Mr. Tabler owns the 
two-story frame house now occupied by 
Huseman and others ; also a saloon in 
Leavenworth. He was married in October, 
1801, to Miss Harriet Lilly, the daughter 
of Richard Lilly, Esq., of this county. 
The parents of Mr. Table? came to Harri- 
son county in 1813, when it was a wilder- 
ness. They fought the wolves and bears, 
hunted dear and wild turkeys. His father 
died in 1882, aged 92 years; his mother 
died in 1855. Mr. Tabler is a member of 
the Knights of Honor. 



CHARLES W. THOMAS, County Super- 
intendent of Schools of Harrison county, 
was born near Lanesville (this county), 
May, 27, 1854, and is a son of John A. 
and Elizabeth Harriet Thomas, born in 
Harrison county, and were among the 
pioneers. Both of his (subject's) grand- 
fathers settled in the county about 1800 — 
paternal grandfather came from North 
Carolina and was of English descent ; ma- 
ternal grandfather came from Pennsylvania 
and was of German origin. 

John A. Thomas, the father of subject, 
was one of the pioneer school-teachers of 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



191 



Harrison county, and taught many terms 
in the county when it contained the State 
capital. 

The subject was reared on the farm, and 
received his education in the common 
schools. He attended Marengo Academy, 
and subsequently went to Lebanon, Ohio, 
and then to Valparaiso, Ind., from which he 
graduated in 1880, having taken a classi- 
cal course. 

He was elected County Superintendent 
of Schools of Harrison county in 1S84, and 
discharged the duties of the office with sig- 
nal ability. He is one of the editors of the 
Harrison County Democrat, founded by D. 
J. Murr in 1886, and is an able and in- 
fluential paper. Mr. Thomas is a promi- 
nent member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow 
fraternities. 



GEORGE W. THOMPSON was born in 
Harrison county, September 9, 1842, and 
is a son of Nathaniel W. and Elizabeth 
(Windell) Thompson ; the former a native 
of this county, and the latter of Virginia. 
The elder Thompson was a son of Henry 
Thompson, a native of Virginia; born 
about 1780; moved to Indiana and settled 
in this county, and died in 1830. He 
married Sarah Moreland, who was born in 
Virginia, and died in Harrison county in 
1859. 

Nathaniel Thompson was raised on a 
farm, and was also a millwright. He 
built a number of mills in this and adjoin- 
ing counties. He died in September, 1877. 
To him and his wife, Elizabeth Windell 
Thompson, were born ten children, of whom 
George, the subject, was the eldest. He 
was brought up as a farmer and received 
a good practical education. He was mar- 
ried December 29, 1868, to Miss Mary F. 



Howsley, a daughter of William Howsley, 
a native of Nashville Tenn., and born in 
1822. His wife was Margaret Taylor. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have had nine 
children, namely: Robert E., born October 
4, 1869 (died July 16, 1870) ; Maggie L., 
born November 17, 1870; William F., 
born July 3, 1873 ; Alma K., born February 
26, 1875; Mary E., bom July 17, 1877; 
Nathaniel E., born January 21, 1881 ; 
Minnie R., born December 31, 1S83; 
George W., born November 1, 1885, and 
Venus A., born February 14, 1888. 

Mr. Thompson enlisted in Co. H, Fourth 
Indiana Cavalry, July 3, 1862, and was 
discharged July 9, 1865, his term of serv- 
ice having expired. Participating in all 
the hard service of his regiment, after the 
war was over he returned home and en- 
gaged in teaching, which he followed for 
twenty-one years. He also earned on 
farming and did odd jobs at carpentering. 
He is a member of the Methodist Church. 
Resides on his farm in Boone township, 
and is an exemplary citizen. 



WM. NEAL TRACEWELL was born in 
Wood county, W. Va., February 18, 1827, 
and is a son of Edward and Terese (Neal) 
Tracewell, natives of Culpepper county, 
Va., and of Maryland. Grandfather was a 
native of England, and a minister of the 
Church of England, came to this country 
about 1784 and located in Culpepper 
county, as above. The Neals are also 
English. Wm. Neal, the subject, was 
reared and educated in Wood county until 
twenty years of age, and finished off his 
education at Asbury Academy, at Parkers- 
burg. On leaving school, he went to Front 
Royal, Va., to read law. He was married 



192 



HARRISON COUNTY 



in 1S48 to Miss Louisa Brown, a native of 
Warren county, Va. He remained there 
as a clerk until 1853, when he came to 
Corydon, and shortly after was admitted 
to the bar. He is now the oldest member 
of the bar of Corydon. His son, Eobert J., 
is at the head of the Corydon bar, and a 
partner with his father. He was born in 
Virginia, in 1852, received a liberal educa- 
tion, graduating from Hanover College, 
and admitted to the bar in 1875, and has 
risen rapidly in his profession by a close 
application to study and to his duties. 



JAMES TROTTER, Harrison county, 
was born in Ireland, January 1, 1812, and 
is a son of Hamilton and Nancy (Stringer) 
Trotter, natives of the "Green Isle." The 
elder Trotter came to America, landing in 
Baltimore in 1816, and came here in 1826, 
settling in Heth township. 

He was a man of intelligence, well edu- 
cated, a Presbyterian, and died in 1844. 

James, the subject of this sketch, was 
reared on the farm, and received a good 
practical education. Since his manhood, 
about 1830, has followed flatboating to New 
Orleans. He built several boats and loaded 
them, taking them safely* down to the 
Southern country. During the war he, of 
course, had to cease the business, but in 
1866 he began again. He has, perhaps, 
done as much flatboating as any man in 
the State, taking out, usually, three or four 
boats a year; but has done nothing in 
that line since 18S7. He was married in 
1838, to Miss Lydia Fleshman, a native of 
this county, and a daughter of Jonas 
Fleshman, who settled here about 1808, 
and has farmed all his life. Mr. and Mrs. 
Trotter have four children living, viz : John 



M., Sarah Ann, Hugh A. and Molly Jane. 
Mr. Trotter owns 243 acres of land, well 
improved, and is a prosperous business 
man. He is a member of the United 
Brethren Church. 



JOHN W. VIERS was born in Hardin 
county, Ky., April 17, 1835, and is a son 
of William T. and Sarah (Dowdall) Viers. 
The former was a son of Nathan Viers, a 
native of Maryland, born March 24, 1774 ; 
the latter was a daughter of William and 
Mary Dowdall, natives of Maryland. John 
W., the subject of this sketch, was the 
eldest of nine children, and was reared on 
the farm, receiving a common-school edu- 
cation. He enlisted September 5, 1863, 
in Co. K, Ninety-first Regiment of Indiana 
Volunteers, and was discharged March 23, 
1864, by reason of expiration of his term 
of service. He returned home and resumed 
his farming, which he follows at this time. 



JOHN WALTERS, Sr., Harrison county, 
was born in Beren, Paltz-Londow, within 
eighteen miles of the French line, February 
28, 1817, and is a son of Jacob and Mar- 
garet (Conrad) Walters, natives of Ger- 
many. Father came to the United States 
in 1834, and located in this county. He 
served eleven years in the army of Na- 
poleon Bonaparte before coming to this 
country — operating in Russia, Spain and 
France. The subject of this sketch, John 
Walters, is a plain and unostentatious 
farmer, and has lived in this county many 
years. In 1S39, he was married to Miss 
Catherine Kiefer, a native of New Orleans. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



193 



They have twelve children living and three 
dead. He owns 120 acres of land, well im- 
proved and in a fine state of cultivation. 
He is a member of the Lutheran Church, 
and is an upright and honorable citizen. 



WILFORD N. WATKINS, a prominent 
farmer of Washington township, was born 
in 1829, in Scott county, Mo., and moved 
to Harrison county, Ind., with his parents, 
in 1834. His father, Stephen, was a car- 
penter by trade, and his paternal grand- 
father, James Watkins, was a native of 
Virginia, who left that State in about 1819, 
coming to Shepherdsville, Ky., where he 
remained but a short time, when he settled 
in Harrison county and here continued to 
reside till his death in 1847. The mother 
of our subject was Eliza Donally, a native 
of Mississippi, whose family were of Welsh 
origin. Mr. Watkins was the third son 
born to this union ; his two brothers older 
were William and John, who are both dead, 
and two sisters, whose nameswere respect- 
ively Eliza J. and Martha, who are also 
dead. 

W. H. Watkins was married in 1852, to 
Miss Anna Eliza McCray, a lady of supe- 
rior worth and a daughter of Wheeler G. 
McCray, a native of Vermont, and a promi- 
nent and early settler in Floyd county. 
To this marriage have been born four chil- 
dren : Dr. Edward E., of Jeffersonville, 
Ind., and Frank. The other two, George 
and William, are dead. 

In 1862 Mr. Watkins joined the Twelfth 
Indiana Battery, as a private soldier; he 
was in the hard-fought battle of Pittsburg 
Landing, and many others. He remained 
with his regiment about two years, when 
he was discharged for disability. After 



enlisting he soon became senior lieutenant 
of his company, and virtually had charge 
of the same until he was discharged in 
1804. He returned to Indiana and located 
at Jeffersonville, and for a short time was 
engaged in steamboating, when, in 1860, he 
removed to his beautiful farm in Washing- 
ton township, where he has since been ex- 
tensively engaged in the fruit and stock 
raising business. There are sixty acres of 
his 200 acres in an apple orchard, and one 
of the finest in the county. He is a 
staunch Republican in politics, member of 
the Christian Church, and one of the lead- 
ing farmers of Harrison county. 



CHARLES H.WILLIAR was born April 
13, 1S33, and is a son of Nathan and Sarah 
(Kinzer) Williar, natives of Maryland. 
The former was born May 6, 1792, and was 
of German and French origin ; the latter 
was a daughter of John Kinzer, who died 
in Frederick county, Md. The elder Will- 
iar (Nathan) was a farmer, and meagerly 
educated, as educational facilities at that 
day were limited, though he could speak 
both German and English fluently. He was 
married to Sarah Kinzer in 1821, and in 
1824 emigrated to the West, and settled in 
Harrison county, Ind., where he died in 
1846. His widow survived him a quarter 
of a century, and died in 1871. Charles 
H., the subject of this sketch, was the 
fourth in a family of five children, and was 
born on the farm where he now lives, and 
which he now owns. 

In 1 862 he enlisted in Co. M, Third, 
Indiana Cavalry, and was discharged 
April 27, 1865, by expiration of his term 
of service. At the close of the war he re- 
turned home and resumed farming. He 



194 



H/.RRISON COUNTY 



was married to Miss Lucy Benthy, in 
1870, a native of Harrison county, and 
was born December 8, 1840, and died 
November 23, 1883. She was a daughter 
of George and Rebecca Benthy ; the for- 
mer was a man of considerable prominence, 
having served acceptably as Circuit Judge, 
and also as representative of Harrison 
county, in the lower house of the Legis- 
lature. His wife, Rebecca, was a. daughter 
of Ignatius and Kitty Able, of Kentucky. 
Mr. and Mrs. Williar had three children, 
viz: Walter K., born March 21, 1872; 
Harry A., born September 6, 1876; and 
Althea L., born October 28, 1879. Mr. 
Williar is a man highly esteemed in his 
neighborhood, and is a prosperous farmer 
and an estimable citizen. 



JOHN L. WOLFORD was bom at 
Lanesville, Harrison county, July 23, 1S47, 
and is a son of John Wolford, who was a 
prominent merchant and business man of 
Lanesville for more than forty years. He 
died in 1885, leaving two children, John L, 
and Mrs. John J. Schulten, of Louisville, 

Ky. 

The subject of this sketch was brought 
up in Lanesville, and was educated in the 
Catholic school of the town, and graduated 
from the Notre Dame Commercial College 
in 1867. 

After leaving school he was engaged for 
two years in the Auditor's office at Corydon 
as a clerk, and then began merchandizing 
at Lanesville, which business he still fol- 
lows, and in which he has been very 
successful.' 

He was appointed Postmaster of Lanes- 
ville in 1879 under Postmaster-General 
Key. 



He was married in 1877 to Miss Katie 
Endris, of Lanesville ; they have three chil- 
dren living — two boys and one girl, viz : 
Gertie, John J., and Frank. By close 
attention to business Mr. Wolford has 
worked up an excellent trade, and become 
one of the prosperous men of the town. 
He is a man of sterling honesty, and a 
member of the Catholic church. 



JAMES WOODWARD one of the promi- 
nent men and influential citizens of Harri- 
son county, was born in Marion county, 
Ky., on the 20th of September, 1834, and 
is a son of William and Julia (Dyer) Wood- 
ward, the former a native of Virginia, and 
the latter of Maryland. The elder Wood- 
ward came to Harrison county in 1845, 
and settled in Washington township; he 
was a shoemaker by trade. James, the 
subject, was brought up on the farm, and 
received a common-school education. At 
the age of 19 he commenced flatboating 
to New Orleans, carrying produce and 
trading all through the Southi For thirty- 
five years he followed this trade, doing 
$50,000 of business in the South. Since 
the war he has followed trading and farm- 
ing. In 1855 he was married to Miss 
Rebecca Cunningham, a native of Harrison 
county, and a daughter of James Cunning- 
ham, who was born in Kentucky. She 
died in 1881, leaving two children surviv- 
ing her — James and Nannie, wife of Geo. 
W. Windell, Jr. In 1883 Mr. Woodward 
was married to Mrs. Mollie Bennett, of 
this county. 

He was elected auditor of Harrison 
county in 18S6, over Charles W. Cole, by 
196 majority. He is a member of the K. 
of P. and of the Knights of Honor. He 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



195 



owns an excellent farm of 300 acres of 
land, also owns another tract of 70 acres. 
Mr. Woodward is well known among 
Southern merchants, with whom for many 
years he has been brought in frequent con- 
tact, and some of his most substantial 
friends are among that class of people. As 
a man and citizen at home, where he is still 
better known, he is well liked. Unselfish 
to a fault, liberal in his opinions, affable 
and courteous in manner, and is one of the 
few men in politics who is popular with 
Republican and Democrat alike. 



GEORGE R. WRIGHT was bora in Phil- 
adelphia in July, 1818, and is a son of 
George and Elizabeth (Hall) Wright, the 
former a native of Massachusetts and the 
latter of Philadelphia. The elder Wright's 
father was among the very first Revolution- 
ary heroes, and participated in the battles 
of Lexington and Bunker Hill. The fam- 
ily is of English origin, and, according to 
tradition, came over in the "Mayflower." 

Elizabeth Hall Wright's father was a 
Revolutionary soldier, and was under 
Washington at Germantown and Phila- 
delphia. After the war was over he settled 
near the tree under which William Penn 
made his treaty with the Indians. 

George, the subject, was born, reared 
ami educated in Philadelphia. He is the 
second in a family of eight children, all of 
whom are living. His father was a steam- 
boat builder, and came to Jeffersonville, 
Ind., in 1814, and built some of the first 
steamboats built at the Falls of the Ohio. 
He was one of the number who repaired 
Commodore Perry's boat after his famous 
victory on Lake Erie. He settled in New 
Albany, Floyd county, Ind., in 1844. He 



came to Harrison county in 1868, and set- 
tled on the river, near Bridgeport. 

He was married in 1846 to Miss Mary 
Jones, a native of Kentucky, of the same 
family of Aquilla Jones, of Indianapolis. 
They have eight children living. 

Mr. Wright has belonged to the order of 
Odd Fellows forty years, at New Albany. 



ALONZO WRIGHT, farmer, Washing- 
ton township. He was born on the farm 
he now resides on in 1849. His father, 
Joel Wright, was a native of Kentucky, and 
an early settler in the county. His pater- 
nal grandfather, Jonathan Wright, settled 
in the county, and was also born in Ken- 
tucky. His maternal grandfather, Richard 
McMahon, came to Harrison county in 
1806, and at that time there were very few 
white families in the county. He settled 
on Indian creek ; was a Lieutenant in the 
War of '12, and killed in the battle of Tip- 
pecanoe. Joel and Rosanah H. Wright had 
born to them eleven children : Martha, Pheba 
Matilda, E. J., Harriet A., Sarah E., Wm. 
M., Anna H. and Joel W., who are all 
dead. Richard H., Sarah and Alonzo 
are the only surviving children. Joel 
died in Dec, 1864, at 80 years of age. Al- 
onzo Wright is a thrifty farmer of Harrison 
county, and was married in October, 1S75, 
to Miss Mary, daughter of Thomas Bal- 
lard. They have five children, of whom 
four are living: William, born August 11, 
1876; Edith, August 4, 1878; Rosa F., 
November 15, 1880; Charles R., May 16, 
1883, and died February 18, 1888. 

Mr. Wright is a member of M. E. Church 
at Wesley Chapel, and has a farm of 100 
acres, located one-half mile south of Valley 
City. 



196 



HARRISON COUNTY 



MRS. ROSANAH H. WRIGHT (de- 
ceased) was born February 23, 1808, and 
there is little doubt as to her being the 
first white child born in Indiana. She 
was left an orphan at the age of four years 
by the death of her father, Lieut. Richard 
McMahon, who fell at the battle of Tippe- 
canoe. She was married to Mr. Joel 
Wright, September 9, 1824, and lived a 
happy wedded life till his death, Septem- 
ber 23, 1865. She was the mother of 
eleven children, five sons and six daughters ; 
only two of them are living. She joined 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1839, 
under the preaching of the Rev. William 
Daniel, and was a member of the first class 
organized at Wesley Chapel, then Corydon 
Circuit. She lived a consistent Christian 
life. She died July 24-, 1888, trusting in 
her Saviour, who sustained and comforted 
her through life. She was kind, patriotic, 
hospitable and generous. Her house was 
ever open to the poor pioneer preachers of 
of all denominations. 

"Let faith look up, let sorrow cease, 
She lives with Christ o'erhead ; 

Yes, faith beholds where she sits, 
With Jesus clothed iu white; 

Our loss is her eternal gain, 
She dwells in cloudless light." 



SAMUEL J. WRIGHT (deceased) was a 
native of this county, and was born July 8, 
1824, within three miles of Corydon. He was 
brought up on the farm until he was thirteen 
years of age, when he entered the Clerk's 
office under Capt. Heth, remaining in that 
position until he was twenty-one years of age. 
He was then elected Auditor of Harrison 
county for four years. Serving out his 
term, he, in 1850, engaged in the mercan- 



tile business, which he continued until 1866, 
when he sold out. While merchandizing, 
he also ran the Eclipse Mills, owning an 
interest in them until 1873. He was a 
large owner and treasurer in the New Albany, 
Louisville and Corydon Turnpike Road. In 
1867 he was re-elected Auditor of the county 
on the Republican ticket. He then en- 
gaged in the law, which he continued to the 
time of his death, which occurred in 1884. 
He owned a farm a mile north of Corydon. 
His heirs still own it and his interest in 
the Pike Road. Mr. Wright was married 
in 1846, to Miss Sarah Ami Slaughter, of 
Corydon, daughter of Dr. James B. Slaugh- 
ter. She died in 1857, leavingfour children, 
two of whom are living — James E. and Sarah 
D. — both of whom are married and living in 
Corydon. Mr. Wright married a second 
time in 1858, Miss E. Wilson, a daughter 
of Hon. Geo. P. R. Wilson, a prominent 
man, who served several terms in the Legis- 
lature, and was a native of Kentucky. 
He lived on a farm, in this county, once 
owned by Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison. This 
second marriage of Mr. Wright resulted in 
seven children, as follows : Charles W., 
Edgar G., Oscar S., Rosa, Frank R., Fanny 
G. and Mary. Mrs. Wright's mother was 
a daughter of Capt. Spier Spencer, who was 
with Gen. Harrison at Tippecanoe, and was 
killed in that battle. Capt. Spencer's 
wife, Elizabeth Polk, was captured by the 
Indians when only six years old, and kept 
with them until she nearly forgot her own 
language. 



DAVID W. YOUTSTER, farmer and 
fruit-grower, was born in Harrison county, 
Ind., May 26, 1837, son of William and 
Sarah (Rogers) Youtster. The former, a na- 
tive of Kentucky, came to Indiana in 1800, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



197 



and was one of those hardy pioneers who 
made "the wilderness to rejoice and blos- 
som as the rose;" the latter was of Irish 
origin, and came to the United States 
while quite young, first settling with her 
parents in Pennsylvania, but subsequently 
moved to Indiana, and settled in this 
county, where she died in 1S82. David W., 
the subject of this sketch, was reared on 
the farm, and received a common-school 
education. He was married Aug. 1, 1871, 
to Nancy B. Cunningham, a daughter of 
Samuel Cunningham, Esq. Three children 
were born of this marriage, viz : Thomas 
H., born June 22,1872; David W., Dec. 



1873; James E., Sept. 13, 1882. Mr. 
Youtster owns 156 acres of fine land, well 
improved. It is located on the Ohio river, 
about three miles above New Amsterdam, 
and about forty acres of it are in fruit, 
mostly apples, comprising all the finest 
varieties ; it turned out over 2,000 barrels 
of apples last year. He is a member of 
the Odd Fellows, New Amsterdam Lodge, 
No. 650 ; also a member of the Masonic 
order of Mauckport lodge, and he and his 
wife are members of the Congregational 
Church at Beechwood. Politically he is a 
Republican, and one of the foremost and 
most substantial farmers of his township. 



198 



HARRISON COUNTY 



WILLIAM T. ZENOR, Circuit Judge, 
was born in Harrison county, Intl., three 
miles east of Corydon, April 30, 1846. His 
parents, Philip and Anna C. Zenor, were 
natives, the father of Ohio, and the mother 
of Harrison county, Ind. The mother 
Anna C. Shuck, was the daughter of Chris- 
topher Shuck, a Pennsylvania German, 
who settled in Harrison county about 1790, 
about three miles east of the present site of 
Corydon. His grandfather, Jacob Zenor, 
was a soldier in the War of 1 8 1 2. He fought 
in the battle of Tippecanoe, where he was 
wounded, being a lieutenant of the Spencer 
Rifles, led by Capt. Spier Spencer, of 
Corydon, who fell in the battle. He served 
as a member of the Indiana Legislature 
from its first session in 1816 to 1820-21. 

Judge Zenor's father was born in 1810, 
came to Harrison county when a small 
boy, is still living, and has always been 
a farmer. The family is probably of 
French origin. The father served in the 
Second Indiana Volunteer Regiment of In- 
fantry in the war with Mexico, with the 
rank of lieutenant, and draws a pension 
for his services. 

Judge Zenor was reared on his father's 
farm, educated in the common schools of 
the county, and graduated from the High, 
School at Salem, Ind., under Prof. May. 

He read law under Judge D. W. La- 
Follette, at New Albany, and was admitted 
to practice in 1869 in the Harrison County 
Circuit Court. 



In 1871 he . moved to Leavenworth, 
Crawford county, and for five years, under 
appointment by the Governor and two 
elections by the people, he served faith- 
fully, energetically and successfully as 
Prosecuting Attorney of that Judicial Cir- 
cuit. 

In 1882 he was admitted to practice in 
the Supreme Court of the State. 

In 1884, he was elected Judge of the Cir- 
cuit Court for Harrison and Crawford coun- 
ties without opposition, the people of both 
counties recognizing his high legal abilities 
and fitness for this honorable and respon- 
sible position. His popularity with the 
people is the reward of a life of honor and 
usefulness and of noble qualities of man- 
hood. He carried with him to the bench 
abilities of the highest order, and presides 
in the Circuit Court of his circuit with 
dignity and justice. 

In 1873 Judge Zenor was married to 
Miss Emma Lynn, daughter of Mr. Pier- 
son Lynn, of Lanesville, Harrison county, 
and a lady of rare accomplishments. Judge 
Zenor is a self-made man ; he enjoyed none 
of the educational advantages of the present 
era, nevertheless he is a man of scholarly 
accpiirements, a student of industry and re- 
search, the hewer out of his own fortune 
and the honest architect of his own fame. 
No citizen of Harrison or Crawford county 
is held in higher esteem by the people of 
the two counties than Judge William T. 
Zenor. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



201 



HON. PETER M. ZENOR, one of the 
retired farmers of Harrison county and ex- 
member of the Legislature, was born on 
the farm on which he still resides, in Posey 
township, June 11, 1820. 

He is the second son of Col. John and 
Polly Zenor (nee Mcintosh). Col. John 
Zenor was a native of Lancaster county, 
Pa., from where he emigrated, in 180S, to 
Harrison county, Ind., and was prominent 
in the early history of the county. He 
was Colonel of the early State Mihtia and 
lead certain expeditions against the In- 
dians, and, for his meritorious service in 
battle, was awarded land grants by the 
President of United States. 

He was a member of the Legislature in 
1836, when the "Internal Improvement 
Act" was passed and became a law ; and 
served his county continuously up to 1850. 
He was strong and influential as a mem- 
ber, taking an active part in all measures 
that were for the building up and develop- 
ment of the young State. 

In politics, Col. Zenor was a staunch 
Whig, but he was universally liked by both 
parties, and respected for his ability, hon- 
esty and integrity. In 1850, when the 
county had the selection of a member to 
the State Constitutional Convention, Col. 
Zenor was chosen over the late Judge 
William A. Porter, and as a member of 
that body his services were conspicuous and 
useful. 

Among his contemporaries in the Legis- 
lature were : Frederick Leslie and Dennis 
Pennington, of Harrison county, and Har- 
bin H. Moore and John S. Davis, of Floyd 
county. His work in the Constitutional 
Convention was the last of his public serv- 
ices. 

Peter M. Zenor's uncle, Jacob Zenor, 
was also a man of prominence, having 
served the county as a member of the Leg- 



islature while the capital was at Corydon. 

Mr. Peter M. Zenor is the only living son 
of his father's family. Was brought up on 
the farm. His early school advantages 
were meagre acquiring his education prin- 
cipally after he arrived at man's estate. 
His early life was principally spent in his 
father's "Old Horse Mill, " which ground all 
the wheat and corn for miles around. 

December 6, 1838, he was married to 
Miss Elizabeth S., daughter of Joshua 
Farnsley, a pioneer of the county, and a 
man of great worth to the community, a 
native of Kentucky, one of early magis- 
trates of the county, and a real estate own- 
er, and died in 1870. 

Our subject before the war was elected 
to the office of Magistrate and served in 
that office for four years. During the war 
he was elected to the office of County Com- 
missioner, to fill the vacancy made by the 
death of Col. Jacob Free, who was killed in 
the Morgan raid. 

In 1868, was elected to the lower house 
of the Legislature, and was one of the mem- 
bers who filibustered against the adoption of 
theFifteenthAmendment,and subsequently, 
to thwart same being accomplished, resign- 
ed, along with many others of his party, 
the Democrat members, and later on, when 
Governor Baker called a special session, 
he was elected as his own successor, and 
when the Amendment again came up for 
consideration, he again resigned, with a 
number of others, sufficient to break the 
quorum, and the Amendment did not pass 
through that session. 

In 1870 he was again elected to that 
body and served as Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on County and Township Business, 
and was also Chairman of the Committee 
on Rules, as well as the Committee on 
Claims. 

In 1876 he again served his county in 



202 



HARRISON COUNTY. 



the capacity of County Commissioner for 
six years. 

Mr. Zenor's wife died in 1882 ; since that 
time he has held no public office. 

He has living two children — Joshua F. 
and Frances J. Zenor. Mr. Zenor is liv- 
ing a retired life with his son , one that 
has been useful, and one worthy as a model 
for the young men of the country. Mr. 
Zenor's grandfather, Peter Mcintosh, for 
whom he was named, was prominently con- 
nected with the early history of the county, 
serving as one of the Probate Judges for a 
number of years. 



ELHANAN W. ZIMMERMAN was born 
on a farm, in Harrison county, September 
26, 1836, and is a son of David and Eliza- 
beth (Brown) Zimmerman — the former 
born in Maryland about 1790, emigrated 
to Indiana, settling in Harrison county, 
where he died about 1840. His wife, 
Elizabeth (Brown) Zimmerman, was also 
born in Maryland, and died in this county 
in 1844. Elhanan, whose name heads 
this sketch, is the seventh in a family of 
nine children. He was reared on a farm 



and educated in the common schools. His 
life passed quietly until the beginning of 
the civil war, when, in July, 1861, he en- 
listed in Co. B, Forty-fifth Indiana Volun- 
teer Regiment (Third Indiana Cavalry), and 
was discharged August 31, 1864, by reason 
of expiration of his term of service. He 
returned home and resumed farming. On 
the 27th of November, 1867, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Lucinda Shoemaker, bom in 
Harrison county, October 18, 1847, and is 
a daughter of Tandy and Nancy Shoe- 
maker, natives of Kentucky and Floyd 
county, Ind., respectively. The former 
was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was 
with Gen. Jackson at the battle of New 
Orleans. Three of his sons, David, Marion, 
and George, followed his martial example, 
and served creditably in the late civil war. 
Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman have had ten 
children, viz : David S., Nancy A., Win, J., 
Sanford W., Claudius S., Wiley 0.,EvaL., 
Joan D., Governor P. and Bertha A. Mr. 
Zimmerman owns 130 acres of land, well 
improved and in a fine state of cultivation. 
He raises fruit, grain and grass, and 
is one of the prosperous farmers of the 
county. He has a saw-mill on Buck 
creek, with facilities for grinding corn and 
feed. 




JEFFERSON COUNTY. 



CAPT. JOSEPH C. ABBOTT is a native 
of Henry county, Ky., was born June 5, 
1881. Came to Milton, Ky., with his par- 
ents at five years of age. He was raised 
in Milton, Trimble county, Ky., attendiug 
the city schools of Madison, Ind. After- 
ward he went to college at Carrollton, 
Ky. After finishing his education he en- 
gaged as clerk on the steamboat "Leo- 
nora," packet between Carrollton, Madison 
and Louisville, and continued as pilot and 
clerk for about two years. Then he took 
a trip down South on a flatboat. In 1874 
he built the steamer "St. Francis Belle" at 
Cattlettsburg, Ky., and ran her in the St. 
Francis river, Ark., and afterward ran her 
in the White river, Ark., from Memphis, 
Tenn., to Jacksonport, Ark. In 1876 he 
brought her up and ran her from Louis- 
ville, Ky., to Leavenworth, Ind. In 1877 
he took her to New Orleans and sold her. 

He came home in 1877, and his father 
retired from the ferry business, and turned 
it over to him ; he has continued in that 
business ever since. Mr. Abbott's parents 
were John M. and Mildred (Garriot) Abbott. 
His father was a native of Culpepper county, 
Va., born September 11, 1803, and came to 



Kentucky in 1816. Is now living in Mil- 
ton, and is very active for one of his age. 
His mother was a native of Trimble county, 
Ky. She died in 1875, at the age of 63. 
Capt. Abbott was married in 1876 to 
Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. Nat. 
Williams, of Madison, Ind. He removed 
to Madison in 1876, and has resided there 
ever since. Capt. Abbott is a member of 
the Second Presbyterian Church. He be- 
longs to Masonic Order, and has taken 
the Thirty-second Degree in Masonry, is a 
member of Union Lodge, No. 2, in Madison, 
and belongs to the Consistory at Indi- 
anapolis. The Captain is also a member of 
the I. 0. 0. F., Madison Lodge, No. 72; 
also of Madison Lodge, No. 21, K- of P.; 
also of Bed Men and Knights of Labor. 
Was chairman of the Democratic commit- 
tee for eight years. 



CHABLES W. ALLFBEY, school- 
teacher, was born in Switzerland county, 
Ind., and was raised on a farm. He is the 
son of Joseph Allfrey and Elizabeth Gray. 



204 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



His father was a native of Nicholas 
county, Ky., born in 1798, of Virginia peo- 
ple. His grandfather was a soldier in the 
War of 1812. 

Mr. Allfrey's mother was the daughter 
of James Gray, and was born in Virginia ; 
she came to Indiana with her father in 
1800, and settled in what is now Switzer- 
land county. They were the earliest set- 
tlers of that county. Her father was a 
soldier in the War of 1812. 

Mr. Allfrey was educated in the common 
schools of his county, and then took a 
course at the Woodward School, located in 
Cincinnati, Ohio. He commenced teaching 
in 1853, and followed it until 1869 ; then 
for two years he flatboated. In 1871 he 
was appointed School Examiner, and served 
at that for two years ; then he went at the 
traffic of goods on the river. While from 
home on this business he was nominated 
on the Democratic ticket for Recorder of 
Jefferson county. He was elected to that 
office and served for four years ; after which 
he resumed his profession as teacher, which 
he still follows. 

When a boy he was engaged as cook on 
a natboat, and in that capacity made quite 
a number of trips to New Orleans. He has 
made several trips through portions of the 
Southern country since he arrived at man- 
hood. Mr. Allfrey is considered one of the 
best teachers of the county, and is well 
liked by scholars, parents and the school 
officers. 



WILLIAM M. AMSDEN, County Superin- 
tendent of Public Schools, Smyrna town- 
ship, the son of Caleb and Nancy (Moncrief) 
Amsden, was born July 28, 1857, in Smyrna 
township, Jefferson county, Ind.-; was 
brought up in this township, attended the 
public schools of this county, and graduated 
from Hanover College in 1886. While 
attending college, during the vacations, 
for six years, from 1880 to 1886, for four 
months of each year, he acted as traveling 
salesman for McCormick Harvesting Ma- 
chine Company, of Chicago, 111. After 
graduating he was clerk of the Indiana 
House of Representatives, remaining there 
the session of 1887. 

In June, 1887, was elected County Super- 
intendent of Public Schools for Jefferson 
county, on the Republican ticket. 

Mr. Amsden was married, April 19, 
1888, to Miss Sophia Dean, daughter of 
Mr. A. C. Dean, of this township. 

He was Deputy Assessor of Smyrna 
township from 1881 to 1885, four years; 
and has been a law student since 1881. 
He was made secretary of the Republican 
Committee from 1888 to 1890. He has 
been Delegate to two Republican State Con- 
ventions, to two Congressional and one Ju- 
dicial Conventions. And is chairman of 
the Smyrna Precinct Committee. He was 
a candidate for the Legislature in 1S88, but 
was defeated in convention. 

His father, Caleb Amsden, was a native 
of New York State, and came to Indiana in 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



205 



1830 and located in Jefferson county, at 
Madison. He was a traveling salesman 
for Mr. E. C. Barbour, of Madison. Has 
been a traveling salesman for the greater 
part of his life. In 1865 he located in 
Smyrna township, on a farm, where he has 
been ever since. He is a Mason and an 
Odd Fellow, and is member of the Baptist 
Church at Wirt. He is now in the seventy- 
second year of his age. 

Mrs. Amsden, the mother of the subject 
of this sketch, is a native of Jefferson 
county, Ind., and was the daughter of Ab- 
ner Moncrief, who was a native of Ken- 
tucky, and came to this county in 1808, 
and was one of the first settlers of the 
county. He was a farmer, and died in 
1872, at the age of seventy-two years. He 
was an active member of the Baptist 
Church at Wirt, and was a deacon of his 
church for many years. Mrs. Amsden is 
still living, being fifty-nine years old. 



CAPT. JOHN ARMSTRONG (deceased) 
was bom in the State of Maryland, on the 
Susquehanna, about the year 1789 ; owing 
to the death of his father when he was 
quite young, and no family records remain- 
ing, the exact date of his birth is not posi- 
tively known. 

Captain Armstrong remembered Cold 
Friday — which was February 6, 1800, and 
always thought he was about seventeen 
years old at that time. His mother re- 
moved to Montgomery county, Ky., when 



he was an infant, and there remained and 
died, leaving one half-sister to the Captain, 
named Axia Carson. The Captain was 
bound (as was the custom in those days, 
in Kentucky, with orphans), but he did not 
like his boss (he was a cabinet-maker), and 
ran away. He passed through Maysville, 
Ky., and finding a canoe there, he paddled 
down the Ohio to Sedansville, and from 
here made his way to Hamilton county, 
Ohio ; there he found a home with an old 
lady named Scott, and lived with her for a 
short time. He next worked for a man 
named Moore for two years, at four dollars 
per month. 

Later he worked for some years for 
Thomas Marshall, with whom he made his 
home for many years. In 1814 he em- 
barked, as a bargeman, on the keelboat 
"None Such," and made a trip to New, Or- 
leans. The wages for the trip was $40 
for the downward trip, and $100 for the 
upward trip. The "None Such" arrived at 
New Orleans a few days before the last bat- 
tle of the war of 1812 was fought there by 
General Jackson against Packingham. 
Armstrong was on the barge at the time of 
the battle, and distinctly heard the noise 
of it. He followed the life of a keelboat- 
man for some years, making four trips 
from Cincinnati and Pittsburgh to New Or- 
leans and back. This was a slow business 
and it took about twelve months to make a 
round trip. 

In 1819 he commenced steamboating as 
a deck hand on the old "Gen. Pike," the first 
steamer ever built in Cincinnati. "It was 
built and principally owned by John H. 



206 



'JEFFERSON COTJNTY 



Piatt. Jacob Strader, a clerk in Piatt's 
bank, was clerk on the vessel. " Then Arm- 
strong became pilot and afterward cap- 
tain of many boats: "Eodolpb," which 'he 
built, "Empress," and other boats that ran 
on the Kentucky river, and a number on 
the Ohio. He was at one time owner of 
the entire Mail Line from Cincinnati to 
Louisville. He continued at boating until 
June, 1847 (his family had been living on 
a farm for many years previous to this 
time), when he retired to his farm, in Jef- 
ferson county, Ind., above Brooksburg, at 
about the age of 56. In 1833 he had 
bought this farm, and had afterward im- 
proved it to suit his ideas of a home, so 
that it was all ready for him when he re- 
tired from the river : it had been his inten- 
tion for many years to enjoy life as a farm- 
er, and he did so for about thirty years. 
He died at his farm February 2, 1880. 

In 1822 he was married to Miss Sarah 
Marshall, the daughter of Thomas Mar- 
shall, with whom he had made his home 
for many years. The issue of this mar- 
riage was seven children, viz : James, John, 
Thomas, George, Eliza Ann, Henrietta and 
Charles ; of these, three are living : Thomas, 
George and Eliza Ann. 

Mrs. Armstrong died January 16, 1838, 
and in 1839 Captain Armstrong married 
Harriet, a sister of his former wife, and 
they had six children, all of whom are liv- 
ing, viz : Sarah, Margaret, Prank, Florence, 
Florida and Harriet. 



Capt. Armstrong was successful in busi- 
ness and accumulated quite a little fortune, 
and at the same time made for himself 
many friends in all the classes of life which 
he had passed through. He was a kind 
husband, father and friend, esteemed by 
all of his neighbors. His dust rests in 
peace in the burial place on his farm, 
which overlooks the river which he loved 
so well, and on which so much of his life 
was passed. 



HOLLY AUSTIN, a farmer near North 
Madison, was a native of Jackson county, 
Ohio, and was born in 1829, April 6. 
His parents were William and Sarah 
(Erwin) Austin, natives of Ohio and Vir- 
ginia. His father is a farmer and is still liv- 
ing, at 84 years of age. Mr. Austin came to 
Jefferson county in 1848, and has been en- 
gaged in farming and saw-milling for the 
most of the time since then. He is 
now engaged in farming and making 
cider and vinegar. He makes vinegar during 
the entire year, from crab-apples. He 
has an orchard of 1200 trees on the farm ; 
controls 277 acres of land. Mr. Austin 
was married in 1853 to Miss Aurelia Castle, 
of Licking county, Ohio. They have three 
children, — William A., Henry C. and Fred. 
Mr. Austin sent the first substitute to the 
war from Indiana — sending a substitute 
before there was a call for a draft in the 
State. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



207 



MATTHIAS BADER was a native of Ger- 
many, and the son of John and Katherine 
(Bihler) Bader; hoth of his parents died in 
Germany. 

Matthias Bader was born December 3, 
1826, in Wurternberg, Germany, and came 
to this country in 1854, and located in 
Indiana in the same yeai>. He went to 
work by the month on the farm, and con- 
tinued to do so for about four years. 

In 1858 he was married to Miss Mary 
Hoi wager, daughter of Frederick Holwager, 
a farmer of this county. After marrying, 
he rented a farm at money rent, and in 
1801 he bought 40 acres of land, and since 
then has bought, at different times, land 
adjoining, until now he has a farm of 200 
acres of good land, seven miles from Madi- 
son, very well improved and well stocked. 

He has four children, three boys and one 
girl, viz : William and Annie, Charlie and 
Edward. William is now a farmer in 
Kansas ; the others are at home. 

Mr. Bader was drafted in 1S64; for one 
year, was in Co. B, Fortieth Indiana Vol- 
unteers. He served nine months, and was in 
the battle of Spring Hill, Franklin and 
Nashville, Tenn. He was taken sick and 
sent to the hospital at Jeffersonville, where 
he was sick about two months, when he 
took small-pox, and was sent to the hospital 
at Louisville. He is a member of the 
M. E. Church at Kent. 



SAMUEL BAKER, farmer, Monroe 
township, was the son of a Dunkard 



preacher, Michael Baker, a native of 
Maryland, whose father came from Ger- 
many and was sold for his passage money, 
for which he broke hemp for some time. 

The mother of Samuel Baker was 
Catherine Everly, and belonged to one of 
oldest families of Pennsylvania. 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
Fayette county, Pa., July 14, 1817, and 
was raised on a farm until 18 years of age, 
when he came West, with two brothers, one 
of whom was a cabinet-maker. They 
landed at North Landing, near Rising Sun, 
Ind. 

Mr. Baker served an apprenticeship of 
three years, with his brother, at the cabinet- 
making business, and then set up a shop of 
his own at Barkworks; he was a hous e 
joiner also. 

He married, at the age of 22, Miss Nancy 
Wallick, whose grandmother was a daughter 
Col. Crawford, who was burned at the stake 
by the Indians. Mrs. Baker's grandfather 
was a Revolutionary soldier, a ranger and 
Indian spy, or scout, in the early days of 
Indiana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baker were the parents of 
three children, Elzina, Sylvania and Nancy. 
Mr. Baker's wife died about 1847. He re- 
married, in 1849, to Nancy J. Haddock, 
whose parents were natives of Indiana ; the 
result of this union was three children : 
Alice, Belle and John. This wife died m 
1865. Mr. Baker was married a third 
time, in 1866, to Sarah Kelley, daughter of 
William Kelley, a native of Pennsylvania. 
Some of his family are dead, the living are 



208 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



in Texas and Indiana. John, the youngest 
son, is at home. 

The greater part of Mr. Baker's life was 
spent in Switzerland county, Indiana, at 
his trade and in the undertaking business, 
though he had traveled in the Far West 
somewhat before the Territory was made 
into States. 

In 1865 he bought a farm of 220 acres 
of good land in Jefferson county, near 
Bryantsburg, where he has since lived as a 
farmer. 

He is an earnest Christian, a member of 
the Christian Church and a good citizen. 



GEORGE BARBER— firm of Barber 
& Cravens, paper manufacturers, Broad- 
way and Fifth street Madison, Ind. — was 
born in Madison June 28, 1836, and 
reared here and attended the city schools. 
In 1854 he went on the river, learn- 
ing the business of steamboat piloting 
from Cincinnati to New Orleans, which 
business he followed from 1858 to 1873. 
In the year 1873 he formed a partnership 
with Mr. Henry C. Watts, for the manu- 
facture of paper, and built the mill in which 
he is at present making paper, the firm 
name being Watts & Barber. This firm 
continued until 1885, when Mr. Charles 
Cravens bought out Mr. Watts' interest. 
Since then the firm name has been Barber 
& Cravens. The mill turns out about 
2,400 pounds of paper every twelve hours. 
They employ seven men, and sell the paper 



principally in Louisville, St. Louis and 
Memphis. The parents of Mr. Barber were 
Timothy and Susan (Horton) Barber, and 
were natives of Connecticut and Ohio, both 
of them coming to Indiana when quite 
young. His father died in 1874, at the age 
of 71 years. His mother is still living. 
Mr. Barber was 1 first married in 1859, to 
Miss Sallie Fisher, of Madison, Ind. She 
died in 1865, leaving two children, one of 
whom died the next year after its mother ; 
the other, Carrie, is still living, and mar- 
ried to Mr. Charles Friedersdorff, of this 
city. Mr. Barber was married a second 
time to Miss Mary Zuck, daughter of Mr. 
Andrew Zuck, of this city. They have four 
children : Willie, Nellie, Clay W. and 
George Cravens. Mr. Barber is a member 
of the Christian Church. Mr. Barber is a 
good citizen, of quiet, retiring disposition, 
and well liked by those who know him. 



WILLIAM BAXTER (deceased) was the 
son of James Baxter, who was a native of 
Ireland, and emigrated to this country in 
the last century, first locating in Pennsyl- 
vania, afterward removing to Ohio and 
settling near Dayton, or rather where that 
city now is ; here he remained for a num- 
ber of years, when he migrated to Jefferson 
county, Ind., and settled in what is now 
Monroe township, where he died. 

The subject of this sketch was born 
near the Little Miami, Ohio, in 1804, and 
came to Jefferson county with his father 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



200 



when quite young, and spent his youth and 
manhood days, and died August 25, 1861. 
He was a fanner, and by careful saving of 
what he made by his industry, he was ena- 
bled to own 360 acres of land at the time 
of his death. 

He married Jane Kerr, August 29, 182S, 
and they begot the following named chil- 
dren : James R., born November 25, 1829 ; 
Josiah K., September 19, 1831 ; Daniel T., 
October 1, 1833, died January 5, 1859; 
Oliver H. P., October 31, 1835; William 
A., May 27, 1838, died September 15, 1877 ; 
Hiram P., September 22, 1840; George 
W., March 16,1843; Alonzo H. H., Au- 
gust 31, 1845; Edward A. Z., October 14, 
1847; Leonidaa N., November 17,1849; 
Havanna S., July 25, 1852; Emlona H., 
August 28, 1S54, died when 16 months old. 
His wife died May 27, 1855, and on Au- 
gust 26, 1857, he was married to Marga- 
ret Kerr, a sister of his first wife. By this 
union there was one son, Erastus V., who 
was born February 3, 1859, who died at 
the age of two years and ten months. 

Mr. Baxter was a man of prominence 
and never sought office. He was a member 
and an earnest supporter of the M. E. 
Church for twenty years before his death. 
Six of his sons were in the army during 
the war, and another served an enlistment 
in the United States army. 



JAMES W. BAYLESS was born in Mad- 
ison, July 1, 1829, was raised on a farm 
and educated in the common schools. 



He has never sought office, and does not 
like secret societies. 

He owns 1 57 acres of good land, and runs 
the farm, his sister Sophronia keeping house 
for him, as he has never married. 

His father, Nathaniel Bayless, was born 
March 12, 1796, in Harford county, Mary- 
land, near the head of Chesapeake bay ; he 
came to Madison, Ind., about 1817. He 
was a house carpenter and joiner, and built 
many houses ; among those he built was 
the house Mr. Chas. Ailing lives in. He 
built the paper mill on Indian Kentucky 
creek, known as Sheets' Paper Mill. He 
sharpened a dirk knife for Mr. John Sheets, 
which, it is said, was the one with which 
Sheets killed White, in Madison, some sixty- 
five years ago. 

In 1824 he married Miss Mary A. Whedon, 
who was born in New York, in March, 1806, 
and came to Jefferson county when 12 years 
of age, with her father, Stephen Whedon, 
an early settler of Madison. 

By this marriage there were six children : 
George, who died at the age of 48 ; James 
W. ; Nathaniel, living in Monroe township ; 
Stephen, who died in 1884; Anna M., who 
is married to John Riggle, and lives at 
North Madison, and Sophronia, who lives 
with James W., who furnishes this sketch. 
Mr. Nathaniel Bayless moved from Madison 
about 1837, to Madison township, where he 
bought 720 acres of land, and where he 
died in 1885. His widow died March 13, 
1879. 

There is a clock and fire shovel that has 
been in the family some sixty-four years. 



210 



JEFFERSON 'COUNTY 



PERRY E. BEAR is a native of Jeffer- 
son county, Ind., and was born September 
22, 1860. His parents were Joseph Bear, 
a farmer, who was born in Jefferson county, 
in 1834, and Margaret Whitmore, who was 
born in Kentucky. 

His paternal grandfather, Christian Bear, 
was a native of Pennsylvania, and settled 
in Jefferson county, Ind., before the State 
was admitted to the Union. He was of 
German origin, his father being a native 
German. 

Perry E. Bear was educated in the 
schools of the county, having graduated 
from the High School. He read law with 
Edward Leland, and was admitted to the 
practice of law in 1881. He was with 
Judge E. R. Wilson, of Madison, for two 
years. 

In 1884 was elected City Attorney of 
Madison ; was re-elected in 1885. In 188G 
was appointed deputy prosecutor of Jeffer- 
son county. He became the nominee of 
bis (Republican) party for prosecuting at- 
torney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit in 
the fall of 1 888, and was elected. In 1883 
was married to Miss Champney. He is a 
member of the I. 0. 0. F. 



WM. H. H. BENEFIEL, merchant and 
farmer of Barbersville, Jefferson county, 
Ind., was born in Jefferson county, March 
8, 1825. 

He is the son of Wm. B. Benefiel, who, 
at the age of 23 years, came from Kentucky 
to Indiana Territory among the pioneer set- 



tlers, and located in the neighborhood of 
Buchanan's Station (or fort), Jefferson 
county, .in the spring of 1814; and was 
married, in 1810, to Miss Phcebe Conner, 
daughter of Lewis Conner, a native of Ten- 
nessee, and who emigrated to Indiana Terri- 
tory prior to 1814. 

George Benefiel and Mary Buchanan 
Benefiel, father and mother of Wm. B., 
came, with their family of seven sons and 
five daughters, to Indiana in the fall of 
1814. The seven sons and five daughters 
all lived to raise large families and to an 
average age of seventy-three years, reckon- 
ing the ages of the deceased at time of death 
and the living at present age. 

George Benefiel, father of this family of 
twelve children, was a native of Virginia, 
and the head of a numerous branch of the 
Benefiel family, emigrated to Kentucky in 
early time, and thence to Indiana; was a 
pioneer of Kentucky and also of Indiana, 
and did much to improve this State. His 
descendants are in almost every State and 
Territory of United States, and in religion 
in general adhere to the Presbyterian faith, 
and in politics uphold the principles of the 
Republican party. 

Wm. H. H. Benefiel, subject of this 
sketch, was raised on a farm and educated 
at the district schools and Hanover College.. 
He was married in 1856, to Marand John- 
son, daughter of Wm. Johnson, a native of 
Kentucky. The result of tins union was 
three children — Nancy A., Wm. T. and 
Mary A. All are married and live in this 
(Jefferson) and the adjoining (Ripley) 
counties. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



211 



In 1857 he engaged in the dry-goods and 
grocery business, at Barbersville, Jefferson 
county, Ind., and has continued in the 
same business, in the same place, ever 
since (thirty-two years). He has also car- 
ried on farming the greater part of the 
time. He owns a part of the farm his 
father owned before Indiana was a State, 
290 acres, which is well improved and very 
productive. 

He was among the first to introduce and 
advocate the use of commercial fertilizers 
in his section, and has lived to see the 
great benefits derived therefrom. 

He belongs to an old Whig family, and 
at the organization of the Republican 
party espoused the principles of that, and 
has been an ardent supporter of that party 
ever since. 

Mr. Benefiel has been successful in his 
business, and has accumulated some valu- 
able property. 

He has an uncle and aunt, aged 88 and 
80, the last of the original settlers of the 
twelve brothers and sisters of the second 
generation of his branch of the Benefiel 
family. 



GEORGE R. BOLEN, hardware mer- 
chant, was bora, in Madison, November 14, 
1860. He attended the public schools of 
Madison; and is a graduate of Halbert's 
Business College. 

After leaving college he entered the post- 



office as clerk, under the late Col. M. C. 
Garber, and continued with him for four 
years. 

In 1S79 Mr. Bolen took a position with 
Mr. F. G. Wharton, who was in the hard- 
ware business, with whom he remained un- 
til July 1, 1888, when he bought him out. 

The firm name being Geo. B. Bolen & 
Co., they carry a full fine of shelf hard- 
ware and carpenters' tools ; and make a 
specialty of breech-loading shot guns and 
small arms. They have a fine trade, and 
the long experience of Mr. Bolen in the 
business gives him a great advantage in the 
trade, as he is complete master of it. 

Mr. Bolen is a member of the K. of P., 
and a past chancellor of the order. He is 
a member of the Trinity M. E. Church, of 
which he is an officer. 

He is the son of Sims B. and Elizabeth 
Bolen, natives of Kentucky, who came to 
Madison just before the war. Mr. Sims 
Bolen, the father, has been superintendent 
of the Gas Co.'s works for about thirty years. 

He was a member of the 67th Ind. Vols, 
during the late war, and a man respected 
by all who know him. 

Mr. Geo. R. Bolen, the subject of this 
sketch, is a man of integrity and good 
business habits and qualifications, affable 
and pleasant in manner. He made many 
friends while in the postoffice, a place 
which tries the patience of both the patron 
and the employe, but George came out of 
it with more staunch friends than when he 
went in to it, and with his pleasant ways 
only made brighter by the constant trial. 



212 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



JOSEPH T. BRASHEAR, Mayor of the 
city of Madison, is a native of Washington 
county, Pa. Was born May 10, 1832. His 
parents were Basil and Margaret (Trotter) 
Brashear, who were bom in Steubenville, 
Ohio, and Claysville, Pa. His father was 
a tailor by trade. His mother died when 
he was three years old. 

Mr. Brashear received only the educa- 
tion afforded by the common schools of the 
county. 

In 1848 he removed to Steubenville, 
Ohio, where he commenced the trade of 
bhicksmithing, and worked there untillSSl, 
when he came to Madison, Ind. 

He continued at his trade here, and 
started in to work for J. S. & R. E. Neal, 
foundrymen, for whom he worked up to 
18G0. In that year he, with others, began 
the steamboat building, at which he con- 
tinued until 1S65, when he went into part- 
nership with Mr. A. Campbell, in the 
manufacture of steam boilers, and remained 
in this for three years. 

In 18G8 he, with John W. Vawter, en- 
gaged in the manufacture of agricultural 
implements at N. Madison for four years, 
at which time he sold out his interest and 
engaged again in blacksmithing as foreman 
for Cobb, Stribling & Co., foundrymen, in 
Madison. 

In May, 1875, he made the race for 
mayor of Madison on the Democratic ticket, 
beating the incumbent, Alexander White, 
157 votes. Served for two years, when he 
was re-nominated, and ran against Captain 
Powers whom he defeated by 474 votes. 
This was the election of 1 877. In 1 879 he 



again made the race for mayor, this time 
against John W. Linck, and was elected by 
forty-two votes. 

In 1S81 he was defeated in the Demo- 
cratic Convention for the nomination, and 
Mr. S. J. Smith, a Republican, was elected. 
In 1883 the Republicans re-nominated Mr. 
Smith, and the Democrats nominated Mr. 
Brashear, and he was elected by 183 ma- 
jority. In 1885 he was again nominated 
as a candidate by the Democrats, and de- 
feated Mr. John Pattie, Republican nomi- 
nee, fifty-five votes. In 1887, ran again, 
his opponent being Capt. H. B. Foster, 
whom he beat by a majority of twenty- 
four. 

September 3, 1S53, he was married to 
Miss Nancy Conaway, of Madison. They 
have eight children. 

He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F. and 
Knights of Honor. In ten years he has 
been absent but two times from meetings 
of the City Council. 



WILLIAM P. BROWN is a native of 
Scotland. He was born July 9, 1841. He 
came to the United States in 1845, with his 
parents, who located in Jefferson county, 
Ind. 

He was brought up on a farm in this 
county, and attended the common schools 
of the county. 

He came to Madison in 1871, and 
worked at the carpenter's business until 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



213 



1874, when be formed a partnership with 
Thomas Dow in the lumber business, under 
the firm name of Dow & Brown, making 
walnut lumber a specialty, which business 
they have been successfully engaged in ever 
since. 

This firm has i-eeently bought the saw- 
mills situated on the corner of Front and 
Plum streets, Block No. 12. Their lumber 
yard office is on Mulberry street. They are 
the largest and most prominent lumber 
merchants in the city. 

Mr. Brown was married in 1871 to Miss 
Mary Graham, of this county, daughter of 
Mr. James Graham, and has four living 
children : William A., Thomas M., James 
G. and Agnes W. 

His parents were Alexander and Isabella 
(Martin) Brown. His father was a promi- 
nent farmer of this county, and died in 
1882, at the age of 92 years. His mother 
died in 1858, at the age of 50 years. 



E. BUCHANAN (deceased), formerly 
of Shelby township, Jefferson county, Ind., 
was born October 21, 1821, in Ripley 
county, and was the son of Wilson Bu- 
chanan, a native of Pennsylvania. Wilson 
and his three brothers came to Indiana at 
an early day, and made the first settlement 
in this neighborhood, and helped to build 
the first fort or blockhouse here, as a place 
of refuge for the settlers and of defence 



against the Indians. The fort was called 
Buchanan's Station. They raised families 
under the difficulties attending pioneer set- 
tlement. The subject of this sketch was 
one of the children, and was raised a pioneer, 
getting an education of the best afforded 
at that time, which was of the simplest, 
and of what could in these days of advanced 
schools be considered the poorest, kind. 

At the age of 19, in 1841, he married 
Miss Lucinda Connor, daughter of Mr. 
Louis Connor, who was also an early set- 
tler. The result of this union was six 
children: Wm. H. H., who enlisted in the 
Twenty-second Indiana Volunteers, and re- 
turned home in six months and died the 
same year from illness contracted in the 
service ; Minerva J., Lavina H., Eliza E., 
John W. and Edith E. His wife died 
September 2, 1857, and he re-married Feb. 
14, 1859. This time he married Miss 
Bebecca Hillis, daughter'of Hiram Hillis, a 
native of Indiana. Her mother was Louisa 
Atherton, daughter of Joseph Atherton, a 
native of Virginia. The result of this mar- 
riage was seven children : Mary E., Han- 
nah, Victoria, Hattie L., Effie M., George T. 
and Nellie S. 

The subject of this sketch died February 
19, 1883. He had been successful in life, 
educated his children well, and at the same 
time, by careful management and patient 
industry, had accumulated quite an amount 
of valuable property. At the time of his 
death be owned some 900 acres of well im- 
proved land in Ripley and Jefferson coun- 
ties, which is still owned by the heirs. All 
of his property was obtained by his own 



214 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



efforts, nothing having. been given to him 
by his father. 

At the marriage of this first set of chil- 
dren he presented each of them with $1,500. 
His sale bill amounted to $3,000. 

Mrs. Buchanan still lives on the home- 
stead, which belongs to her and her daugh- 
ters and son, who is now 14 years of age 
and who is walking in the footsteps of his 
father and alive to all home interests, and 
loves his books and will make his mark in 
the world. Mary E. and Hannah have 
married; the other five are at home 
with their mother. Mr. Buchanan was a 
good citizen and a choice man. 



IRA CHAMBERS, farmer, Monroe town- 
ship, is a native of Jefferson county, Ind., 
was born December 7, 1842, was raised on 
a farm and is still living on one ; he was 
educated in the common schools of the 
county. At the breaking out of the Rebel- 
lion he enlisted in the three months' service, 
at the call for 300,000 more soldiers by the 
President of the United States ; he enlisted 
in the Tenth Indiana Cavalry, and was in 
all the engagements of his regiment, until 
he was taken prisoner atHuntsville, Ala., on 
the 14th day of December, 1864. He re- 
mained a prisoner at Andersonville four 
months and thirteen days, when he escaped 
and found his way to the Union lines at 
Jacksonville, Fla., on April 29, 1865. 



After his discharge at the close of the war 
he returned home, and settled down to the 
quite life of a farmer. 

He was married in 1865, to Miss Nancy 
J. Patton, daughter of Robert R. Patton, of 
North Madison. They have a family of 
seven children : Burdett, Charles, Mollie, 
Harry, Willie, Frank and Stella. 

Mr. Chambers has a comfortable little 
home and enjoys himself in life. He is a 
man prematurely old in consequence of ex- 
posure and injuries received while in the 
army. His father is Mr. James Chambers, 
a farmer of Monroe township (see his 
sketch). Mr. Ira Chambers is a member 
of the G. A. R. 



JAMES CHAMBERS, farmer, Monroe 
township, was the oldest son of Isaac Cham- 
bers, an early settler in this county (see 
sketch in history of county), and Mehitabel 
Goodwin, daughter of Samuel Goodwin, 
natives of Kentucky. Mr. Chambers was 
born in Jefferson county, Indiana, within 
four miles of the place on which he now 
lives, on a farm; was reared a farmer, 
and educated in the old log school-house 
days. His education was, through the 
necessity of the case, of a limited char- 
acter. He was married in 1842, to Mary 
Baxter, a daughter of Daniel Baxter, a 
pioneer of the year 1814 to this county, 
and was born in Pennsylvania, and was 
the father of a large family, the sketches 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



215 



of some of whom are to be found in this 
book. 

Mr. Chambers and wife raised a family 
of nine children, viz : Ira B., Indiana, 
Nancy A., James W., John M., Mary J., 
Robert D., Isaac D. and George A. Two 
of these, George and John M., are dead ; 
the others are living in Jefferson county. 
Ira and John were soldiers in the late war. 
Ira was a prisoner at Andersonville for 
some months (see his sketch) ; John served 
six months. 

Mr. Chambers owns 300 acres of land 
°f good quality and well improved, and is 
very comfortably fixed in a home. His 
wife is a member of the Baptist Church, 
and has been a consistent Christian for fifty 
years past. 



RICHARD CHAPMAN was born in Wil- 
shire, England, in 1819, October 27. 
He was reared in England, and was appren- 
ticed at the age of fourteen, to learn the 
trade of blacksmith, and served for seven 
years as an apprentice, at Woodford, near 
Salisbury. 

He worked at his trade for eighteen 
years in England, and came to the United 
States in 1852, on the ship "Liverpool," 
having left England between Christmas and 
New Year in 1S51. He arrived in Madi- 
son, Ind., the last day of February, 1852, 
with only a nickel in his pocket. He 
walked out in the country four miles that 



night on the Kent road ; the next day he 
rented a shop two miles from Kent, and 
commenced work on the first day of April, 
where he continued to work for two and 
one-half years. The following July after 
he landed, his wife and child came to him 
from England. 

In 1854 Mr. Chapman removed to Gra- 
ham township, and bought one-half of an 
acre of ground, and put up a house and 
shop upon it, paying $100 for the ground. 
He worked at his trade at this place for 
over twenty years, keeping a general coun- 
try store in connection with his shop. His 
wife was made postmistress at this point, 
and held the office for eight years. 

When he left Graham township in 1878, 
he sold his premises for $1,100. 

Mr. Chapman was married in 1846, in 
England, to Miss Alice Potter, a native of 
England, who died August 17, 1880, at 
the age of 60 years, leaving one son, John. 

Mr. Chapman has been very successful 
in accumulating property, owning a farm 
of 240 acres of land in Graham township, 
besides a nice home of twenty-seven acres, 
where he lives, at the edge of the town of 
Lancaster. 

He is a member of the United Presby- 
terian Church, and has always been a 
large contributor to the Church, and fore- 
most to assist in all charitable enterprises. 

He has done a great deal to build up the 
county in the way of building and improv- 
ing property. 

On May 29, 1S86, he married Mrs. Cyn- 
thia (Hammond) Bailey, the widow of Com- 
modore Perry Bailey. She died Decern- 



216 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



ber 23, 18S7, without issue. John Chap- 
man, son of the subject of our sketch, 
married Josephine Lard, daughter of C. K. 
Lard, of this county, and has four children : 
Alice B., Sarah N., Jessie R. and Ruth 
C, all living at home. John owns a farm 
of 385 acres of land in Lancaster town- 
ship, and is one of the largest- farmers in 
the township. Besides farming he deals 
largely in stock. 



JAMES A. COCHRAN, farmer, Hanover 
township, is a native of Hanover township, 
Jefferson county, and was born Feb. 27, 
1831. He was reared in this township on 
a farm : attended the common schools of 
the township. 

He was married in 1800 to Miss Annie 
Morton, daughter of John Morton, of this 
county. He has two children, Jennetta 
and Moses A. He is a member, and an 
elder of Carmel (U. P.) Church. 

He owns a farm of 216 acres of land 
where he lives, three miles west of Hanover 
town ; the land is good and well improved. 
He is a large owner and dealer in Merino 
sheep. 

His parents, Alexander and Margaret 
(Anderson) Cochran, were natives of Scot- 
land ; his father of Glasgow, and his mother 
of Dumfries. They came to the United States, 
the mother in 1818, and the father in 1821. 
His father was a prominent farmer of this 
county, and died in 1876, at the age of 85. 



His mother died in 1884 at 90 years of 
age. Mr. Cochran was elected as County 
Commissioner in 1876 to 1885, on the 
Republican ticket. 



WILLIAM COCHRAN, farmer, is a na- 
tive of Republican township ; was born in 
the same house in which he now lives, 
Aug. 27, 1835. He was brought up on the 
farm, and attended the common schools of 
the county. 

He owns the farm of 172 acres of land 
on which he resides, and raises grain and 
stock, especially sheep. Mr. Cochran is 
unmarried. 

His parents were Alexander and Margaret 
(Anderson) Cochran, both natives of Scot- 
land ; his father of Glasgow, and his mother 
of Dumfries. They came to the United 
States, the mother in 181S, the father in 
1821. His father was a prominent farmer 
of this county, and died in 1876, at the age 
of 85. His mother died in 1884, at the age 
of 90. Mr. Cochran is a good citizen, and 
a good farmer. 



CYRUS COMMISKY, farmer, Monroe 
township, is the second son of Joseph and 
Rebecca (Baxter) Commisky. 

He was born in Monroe township, Jef- 
ferson county, Ind., July 3, 1849, on a 
farm and reared a farmer; attended the 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



217 



public schools. He was married at the age 
of twenty-two to Miss Sarah Walton. They 
are the parents of five living children : 
Kosette, John, Cyrus, Frank and Pleasant ; 
their third child, Charlie, died at the age 
of four. 

Mr. Commisky owns 133 acres of land 
and is a thrifty, forehanded farmer. The 
family of Joseph and Eebecca Commisky 
consisted of six children : Daniel, who en- 
listed in the Twenty-second Indiana Regi- 
ment, and has never been heard of since a 
few months after the battle of Pea Eidge ; 
Cyrus, John F., Joseph N., and two sisters, 
Anna and Susan, both of whom are mar- 
ried. 

Joseph Commisky was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, of Irish descent. He came to In- 
diana when quite young, and died in 1856. 

Eebecca Baxter was the daughter of Dan- 
iel Baxter, whose sketch is in this book, 
and native of this county. She died in 
1887. 



J. RANDOLPH CONWAY, farmer, 
Smyrna township, Jefferson county, Ind., is 
the son of John and Emily (Hoagland) 
Conway, and was born in Hunter's Bottom, 
Trimble county, Ky., Aug. 17, 1836. He 
came to Indiana in 1840, with his parents, 
and located on the land where he now 
resides. He attended the common schools 
of the county. 

Mr. Conway and his two sisters own 115 
acres of land, on which they now live. His 



parents were both of them natives of Ken- 
tucky. His father was born on Dee. 27, 
1800, and died Dec. 5, 1867. His mother 
died July 29, 1 880, at the age of 77 years. 
His father owned 270 acres of the finest 
quality of land in the township ; he always 
raised large crops of wheat and corn ; the 
farm was called Egypt by the neighbors, on 
account of the corn raised upon it. One 
crop of com produced ninety bushels of 
corn to the acre on thirteen acres. The 
same year, in an adjoining field of sixteen 
acres, the product was thirty-eight bushels 
of wheat to the acre ; this crop brought two 
dollars in gold per bushel. This was dur- 
ing the Eussian war, in 1856. 

Mr. John Conway, the father, was for 
many years School and Township Trustee 
for this township. He was also a member 
of the Hopewell' Baptist Church. He was 
a raiser of a great deal of fine stock ; he 
raised one hog, of a litter of seventeen pigs, 
that weighed 606 pounds net, and was not 
fat either. Another large animal of his 
raising, was a Durham steer that weighed 
1260 pounds at two years of age. ' He was 
a man who took great interest in raising 
stock. On his farm was a great deal of 
very large walnut timber ; the stump of one 
tree measured five feet and two inches in 
diameter. There is also one of the largest 
grapevines in the county on this farm ; it 
measures forty-six inches around the body ; 
it is on a beech tree. There is also a large 
poplar tree on this place, which is five feet 
through, and is one hundred feet high ; it 
is covered by a vine of the American ivy — 
this vine covers it all over. There is a cave 



218 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



on the place, and when the beech leaves 
blow under or into the cave, they are 
petrified by the limestone water that drips 
on them ; the leaves decay and leave their 
impression on the stone. 

This is the finest land in the county, lots 
of walnut timber and some blue grass. 

The subject of this sketch has four 
brothers and two sisters : John, Cornelius, 
Thomas, Edward, Mary and Cornelia. His 
sisters live with him. Edward is married 
and a farmer of this township ; Thomas is 
a large farmer in Jackson county ; Cornelius 
died in 1861 ; John is a farmer in Crawford 
county, Ind. 

Mr. Conway's grandfather, John Conway, 
was born in Culpepper county, Va., in 
1770, and died in the house on this farm 
at the age of 93 years 1 month and 3 
days. 



WILLIAM CORDREY, ice dealer in W. 
Madison, was born near Lexington, Ky., 
February 11, 1828, the son of John and 
Malinda (Johnson) Cordrey. The father 
was a native of Maryland, the mother of 
Kentucky. His father settled on the hill 
near Madison, Ind., in 1828, on a farm; 
afterward opened in the grocery business, 
and continued in that for about ten years. 
He died in 188!), seventy-five years old. 
Mr. William Cordrey was reared in Madi- 
son, has farmed and followed carpentering ; 
engaged also in the grocery business, and 
boated on the river. The last fifteen years 



of his life he has been in the ice business. 
He started in life a poor boy, and by his 
pluck, honesty and perseverance has made 
for himself a good living. He has a com- 
fortable home in West Madison, and owns 
twenty acres of land adjoining the city of 
Madison, and considerable real estate in 
West Madison. He is a good citizen, a 
member of the Trinity M. E. of many years 
standing, and a leading man in his church. 
In the year 1849 he was married to Miss 
Vashti Smith, a native of Bartholomew 
county, Ind. They have had three children, 
of whom two only are living — James W., 
and AnnaM., wife of James Crozier, Audi- 
tor of Jefferson county. Mr. Cordrey is a 
member of I. 0. 0. P. He was out with 
Gen. Geo. Morgan, at Cumberland Gap, 
during the war. 



J. RODOLPHUS CONWAY, farmer, 
Smyrna township, Jefferson county, Ind., 
is the son of John and Emily (Hoagland) 
Conway, and was born in Hunter's Bottom, 
Trimble county, Ky., August 17, 1836. 
He came to Indiana in 1840, with his 
parents, and located on the land where he 
now resides. He attended the common 
schools of the county. Mr. Conway and 
his two sisters own 115 acres of land, on 
which they now live. His parents were 
both of them natives of Kentucky ; his 
father was born on December 27, 1800, 
and died December 5, 1867. His mother 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



219 



died July 29, 1880, at the age of 77 years. 
His father owned 270 acres of the finest 
quality of land in the township. He al- 
ways raised large crops of wheat and corn. 
The farm was called Egypt by the neigh- 
bors on account of the corn raised upon it. 
One crop of corn produced 95 bushels of 
com to the acre on thirteen acres. The 
same year, in an adjoining field of sixteen 
acres of wheat, the product was thirty-eight 
bushels to the acre. This crop of wheat 
brought two dollars in gold per bushel. 
This was during the Russian war, in the 
year 1856. Mr. John Conway, the father, 
was, for a great many years, school and 
township trustee for his township. He was 
a member of Hopewell Baptist Church. He 
was a raiser of a great deal of stock ; he 
raised one hog — of a litter of seventeen 
pigs — that weighed 606 pounds net, and 
was not fat either. Another large animal 
of his rearing was a Durham steer that 
weighed 1,260 pounds at two years of age. 
He was a man who took a great interest in 
raising stock. On his farm was a great 
deal of very large walnut timber ; the stump 
of one tree measured five feet and two 
inches in diameter. There is also one of 
the largest grapevines in the country on 
this farm; it measures forty-six inches 
around the body; it is on a beech tree. 
There is also a large poplar tree on the 
place which is five feet through and is one 
hundred feet high ; it is covered by a vine 
of the American ivy ; this vine covers it all 
over. There is a cave on the place, and 
when the beech leaves blow under or into 
the cave, they are petrified by the lime- 



stone water that drips on them ; the leaves 
decay and leave their impression on the 
stone. This is the finest land in the 
county, lots of walnut timber and some 
blue grass. The subject of this sketch has 
four brothers and two sisters : John, Cor- 
nelius, Thomas, Edward, Mary and Cor- 
nelia. His sisters live with him. Edward 
is married and a farmer of this township. 
Thomas is a large farmer in Jackson 
county; Cornelius died in 1861 ; John is a 
farmer of Crawford county, Ind. Mr. 
Conway's grandfather, John Conway, was 
born in Culpepper county, Va., in 1770, 
and died in the house on this farm, at the 
age of 93 years 1 month and 3 days. 



E. S. COYLE was born October 16, 
1854-, in Madison, Ind., and was brought 
up in this city and attended the public 
schools. After leaving school he appren- 
ticed himself to learn the moulder's trade, 
and served over three years. In 1873 he 
went to Johnson's starch factory, and took 
the job of papering starch, and continued 
there for three years. In 1880 he engaged 
in the saloon business, and continued in 
that for eight years. In 1887 he engaged 
in the hardwood lumber business, and is 
still in that business, and has been quite 
successful. 

His parents were both of Irish descent. 
Thomas Coyle, his father, was born in Bal- 
timore, Maryland, and came to Madison, 



220 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Indiana, where be learned the trade of ma- 
chinist, at which he worked for a number 
of years. He was killed while engineer at 
Johnson's starch works. ifis mother's 
maiden name was Ladosky McClaran. She 
was born in Kentucky, and came to Indi- 
ana when quite young, and died at an early 
age, leaving a family of four children, two 
boys and two girls, the subject of our 
sketch being the oldest. 



JAMES CRAIG, deceased, was born 
April 20, 1807, in Ireland, near Belfast. 
He was married in 1834 to Miss Margaret 
Roberts, daughter of Mr. John Roberts, of 
Belfast, Ireland, a noted merchant in the 
linen business. 

In 1838 Mr. Craig came to America, 
leaving Belfast in May of that year. He 
engaged in the coal business in Pittsburgh, 
Pa., for about two years, when he came to 
Jefferson county, Ind., and settled on a 
farm in Monroe township, where he con- 
tinued to reside to the end of his life. He 
died, after a short illness, at his home, May 
26, 1876. 

In later life, he combined farming and 
school-teaching as his professions, and 
was an energetic man in both lines of busi- 
ness. He occupied many positions of 
profit and trust at the gift of the voters 
of his township, with credit to himself and 
benefit to the township. He was a promi- 
nent Mason. He was a man of strong con- 



victions, and when once fixed in an opinion 
would hold out tenaciously. 

He was a kind father and husband and 
a strong friend. 

He enlisted, with four of his sons, in the 
Sixth Indiana Regiment, and served until 
he was disabled, when he returned home 
and taught school the balance of his life. 
He had many of the prominent men of the 
county and State among his pupils. 

His family consisted of ten children, 
viz: Charlotte, Maggie, William R., John 
T., George D., Lizzie, Robert T., Susan, 
Hunter (died when two years old) and 
James. 

His widow resides on the old homestead, 
with her youngest son, James. 



JOHN CRAWFORD, blacksmith and 
farmer, was born in Scotland, in 1842, in 
Ayrshire, and emigrated to America in 
1856, and settled in Jefferson county, Ind. 
He worked four years at farming, and then 
commenced to learn the blacksmith trade. 

In 1864 he was married to Mary Scott, 
daughter of John Scott, a native of Scot- 
land. The same year he enlisted in Co. 
B, One hundred and fortieth Reg. Ind. Vols, 
and served to the end of the war ; was in 
all the battles of the regiment. Came 
home and settled to work at his trade, and 
has been at that and farming ever since. 
He is a first-class mechanic, and has the 
best shop and tools in the county. His 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



221 



business is the repair of farming ma- 
chinery, principally. He owns ninety acres 
of land, well improved and good land. 

He has five children : Ada, James, 
Scott, Harry and Agnes, of whom the eldest 
is married and lives in Jefferson county ; 
the others are at home. 

Mr. Crawford received but a limited edu- 
cation, but is determined that his children 
shall have a better one than he had. His 
father's name was James Crawford, who 
died before his son was five years of age, 
leaving him to make his own living ; which 
he has succeeded in doing by his own good 
and honest labor and thrift. Mr. Crawford 
is a good citizen and honored by his neigh- 
bors. 



WILLIAM W. DEMAREE, farmer, was 
born in Jefferson county, November 3, 
1839. He is a son of William Underwood 
and Marietta (Wagner) Deniaree, natives 
of Kentucky and New Jersey. 

There were three generations of the 
Demaree family who settled, at early dates 
in this century, in Jefferson county, viz : 
Samuel, the father, who came in 1812, and 
entered a very large tract of land ; Daniel, 
his son, and William U., a grandson. Dan- 
iel came from Shelby county, Ky., bringing 
his son, William TJ., with him, who was 
but a boy at the time. William U., the 
father of William W., lived until November, 
1880, when he died. He built the Madi- 



and Canaan Turnpike principally him- 
self, and was regarded as one of the most 
enterprising and progressive farmers in Jef- 
ferson county. The land upon which Mr. 
Demaree, the subject of tbis sketch, now 
lives was entered by his great-grandfather, 
Samuel Demaree. 

The Demaree family was well represent- 
ed in the army in all the wars of this coun- 
try, Mr. William W. Demaree being one 
of the representatives in the late war, en- 
listing in Co. A, 55th Reg. Ind. Vol. Inf., 
for three months in 1862, and was out over 
four months. Since the war Mr. Demaree 
has engaged in farming. 

He is the superintendent and treasurer 
of the Madison and Canaan Turnpike 
Company, and has been since his father's 
death. 

He was married to Miss Susan E. Lee, of 
Jefferson county, in 1876. They have five 
children : Hattie, Maud, Marietta, Anna E., 
Ida May and William Buford. Mr. Dema- 
ree owns 200 acres of valuable land. 



THOMAS DOW was born February 22, 
1844, in Jefferson county. His parents 
were William and Agnes (Scott) Dow ; they 
were natives of Scotland, and came to the 
United States in 1S18. Both are dead; 
his father died in 1866, aged seventy; his 
mother died in 1872, aged seventy-one. 

Mr. Dow was raised upon a farm, and 



222 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



lived there until 1874, when he came to 
Madison and engaged in the agricultural 
implement business, in which he continued 
for one year. In 1875 he formed a part- 
nership with Mr. W. P. Brown, in the lum- 
ber trade, which business he is still in. 

They have been making walnut lumber 
a specialty. They have the largest lum- 
ber yards in the city. They have lately 
bought a large saw-mill and lumber yard, 
covering the block of ground between Front 
and Second, and Plum and Vemon streets, 
and are operating that in connection with 
their other yard. Their office is on Mul- 
berry street. 

Mr. Dow was married in 1874 to Miss 
Minnie Witherspoon, of Switzerland coun- 
ty, Indiana. He has four living children : 
Thomas C, Willie S., James E. and Ella 
M. Mr. Dow is a member of the Masonic 
order. 



ISAAC C. EAEHART is the son of John 
and Sarah (Wood) Earhart. His father 
was a native of Pennsylvania, and his 
mother of New Jersey. They moved to Ohio 
in 1792 and settled near Fort Washington, 
now Cincinnati; they then moved to 
Williamsburg, Clermont county, Ohio, where 
the subject of this sketch was born on July 
24, 1824; from this place they moved to 
Newtown, Hamilton county, same State, in 
1826, and from Newtown to Jefferson coun- 
ty, Ind., to a place known as McCellands 
Mills, in 1837. 



John Earhart was a carpenter by trade, 
and Isaac, the son, learned the same trade 
with his father. The father died in 1869, 
February 16, at the age of 89; was born 
October 20, 1780. His mother was born in 
1778, and died November 30, 1859, at the 
age of 81. 

The subject of this sketch was educated 
in the common schools of Ohio and Indi- 
ana. He worked at his trade and farming 
until 1855, when he bought James Park's 
saw-mill in Republican township, and ran 
it until 1862, when he sold it. 

He then went to farming and worked at 
that until 1866 in this township, when he 
bought the Jordan saw-mill, also in this 
township, and ran that for two years. He 
sold that and bought the Kent mills, and 
run that for eight years, when he sold it 
and went to farming again on what was 
known as the Marshall farm. He con- 
tinued on this fcirm for four or five years, 
when he sold it and bought the Paris flour- 
ing mills at Paris, Jennings county; this 
was in 1883, when he moved to Paris and 
continued to run that mill for three years. 
On account of the health of his wife he 
came back to Republican township, Jeffer- 
son county, and took charge of the Kent 
flouring and saw mills, where he is still 
engaged in business, doing a large sawing 
business. 

He was married December 24, 1845, to 
Miss Rowena Hays, daughter of Samuel 
Hays, a farmer of this county. She died 
after giving birth to a boy baby, who lived 
only eight days, on January 2, 1847. Mr. 
Earhart was married again February 6, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



223 



1848, to Miss Isabella Jones, the daughter 
of Thomas Jones, a prominent farmer of this 
township, by whom he had one child, 
Albert. Albert is married to Miss Jane 
Kelley, and has five children. 

Mr. Earhart is a member of the Masonic 
Order ; also a member of the M. E. Church. 

He was elected Justice of the Peace of 
Smyrna township in 1849, and served but 
a short time and resigned. In 1858 or '59 
was elected Township Trustee of Republi- 
can township, and served until .1 864. He 
was the Democratic nominee for County 
Auditor in 1S72, and was beaten by only 
ISO votes, the Republican majority being 
then 800 in the county. In 1878 was the 
Democratic nominee for Sheriff of the 
county, and was beaten by ballot box stuff- 
ing. 

Mr. Earhart is still a strong Democrat, 
always has voted that ticket, and will con- 
tinue to do so, so long as the Republican 
platform is not as good as the Democratic. 



JOHN W. GORDON (deceased) was born 
in Jefferson county, November 30, 1828, 
and was the son of William Gordon, who 
was bom in Kentucky, July 10, 1795. His 
mother, Anna R. Warfield, daughter of 
John Warfield, was bom in Kentucky. 

Mr. John Gordon was raised a farmer, 
and educated in the old way. 

He was married January 17, 1850, to 
Miss Sarah A. Benefiel, daughter of Wm. B. 



and Phcebe Benefiel, and was bom in Jef- 
ferson county in 1 823. The result of this 
union was seven children : Wm. H. H., 
Lewis E., Albert S., John C. F., Mary J., 
Sarah F. and Phcebe A. All live in Jeffer- 
son county but John C. F., who lives in 
Kansas. 

Mr. Gordon died February 1, 1875. He 
had accumulated some valuable property, 
owned 160 acres of land. Was a consis- 
tent member of the M. E. Church, a good 
citizen, honored and respected by all who 
knew him, a model husband and father. 

After his death his wife succeeded in 
raising and educating the family. Phcebe, 
the youngest daughter, has taught school 
for two years. The boys are all fanners. 

Mrs. Gordon is a devoted member of the 
Presbyterian Church. 



HIRAM FRANCISCO, Sr., is a farmer, 
but on princely scale. He owns and farms 
1,800 acres of land in one body. He. is 
one of the most influential and advanced 
farmers in the county and wholly self- 
made. 

He was bom in Auburn, Cayuga county, 
N. Y., and was the son of David and Per- 
sis (Morley) Francisco, who were natives of 
New Jersey and Massachusetts respect- 
ively. The name of Francisco is probably 
of Spanish origin. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
upon a farm. He commenced life for him- 



224 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



self, chopped cordwood to get money to come 
to Indiana, in 1840. Was agent for three 
years for a clock firm and wheat-fan firm, 
hoth selling and collecting for same ; then 
he sold clocks for fifteen years for himself, 
and since then has been a farmer and ex- 
tensive trader, principally in live stock, and 
is a natural, or born trader. 

He settled on the place where he now 
lives in 1843; it is well improved in all 
points, and is as fine a farm as there is in 
the county, and is well stocked with regis- 
tered stock and cattle. He owns in all 
eleven farms. 

Mr. Francisco was married, in 1S43, to 
Miss Mary McNutt, of Switzerland county, 
Ind. They have four children : Oliver, 
Annie, George and Hiram. 

In 1870 Mr. Francisco was nominated 
by the Democratic party of this county for 
the State Senate, and overcame 700 Kepub- 
lican majority, being elected by a majority 
of seventy-two over Col. W. T. Friedley. 
He was the first Democratic Senator elected 
from Jefferson county for twenty-five years 
previous to that time, and there has not 
been one elected since by the Democratic 
party. 



HIRAM FRANCISCO, Jr., attorney and 
counselor at law, Madison, Ind., is a 
native of Jefferson county, and was born 
January 28, 1851. He was brought up on 
a farm, attended the common schools of the 



county; also attended a private school in 
Shelby county, Ky., in 1866-67. 

In 1869 he commenced reading law in 
the office of Harrington & Korbly, of 
Madison, Ind. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1872, and in 1874 began the prac- 
tice at Indianapolis, with Mr. Harrington 
as a partner, and remained there for one 
year, and in 1875 returned to Jefferson 
county. In 1877 he came to Madison, and 
resumed the practice of law there. 

In 1878 formed a partnership with E.G. 
Leland, under the firm name of Lelaiid & 
Francisco. This firm continued until Feb- 
ruary, 1880, when Mr. Francisco formed 
a partnership with Capt. A. D. Vanosdol, 
under the firm name of Vanosdol & Fran- 
cisco ; they are still together, and is one of 
the strongest law firms in the county. 

Mr. Francisco is a member of the K. 
of P. 

He was married, in 1877, to Miss Louisa 
Otto, daughter of Mrs. Annia M. Otto, of 
Madison, Ind. They have five children, all 
girls : Mary, Helen, Louisa, Martha and 
Georgia. 

His father and mother are Hiram and 
Mary (McNutt) Francisco, of Wirt, Jeffer- 
son county, Ind. 



THOMAS J. FEANCISCO is a native of 
Jefferson county; was born in Madison 
township, Jan. 4, 1839, and was brought 
up in the city and attended the city schools. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



225 



His parents were Alonzo and Ursula 
(Ellison) Francisco. His father was born 
in Cincinnati, 0., and raised there. His 
mother was born in New Jersey, but was 
raised in Ohio. They came to Indiana and 
located at Madison in 1837, where they 
have lived ever since. His father died 
September 20, 1885, aged seventy. His 
mother is still living, in her sixty-ninth 
year. His father was a butcher. 

Mr. Francisco, after leaving school, went 
to work for Mr. James Middleton, in order 
to learn the trade of butchering, and con- 
tinued with him until 1864. 

In the same year he started in business 
for himself, having to borrow the money 
to start on, and has continued in this busi- 
ness, and from a financial standpoint has 
been a success ever since. 

Mr. Francisco owns a handsome resi- 
dence just outside the city limits, and a 
farm of one hundred acres, on the Graham 
Road, four miles from town. He is en- 
gaged pretty largely in feeding stock on 
this farm, carrying an average of one hun- 
dred cattle during the winter. He is one 
of the thorough business men of Jefferson 
county, and deserves his success as there- 
suit of his labors. 

Mr. Francisco was married, February 
20, 1861, to Miss Mary A. Grensling, a na- 
tive of Madison. They have three chil- 
dren : Annie L., Gilbert E. and Maud L. 

Mr. Francisco joined the I. 0. 0. F. at 
the age of twenty-one years. Is also a 
member of the Masonic order. 



CAPT. RUFUS GALE, farmer, Monroe 
township, the subject of this sketch, was 
born in Madison in 1831. His father, 
Elmore Gale, was born in Massachusetts, 
Nov. 28, 1795. He came to Madison on a 
raft, in Nov., 1813, and was therefore one of 
the early settlers of the city and county. 
Elmore Gale and his father Bufus Gale (who 
was a native of New Hampshire, bom in 
1771, and was a great bee fancier), 
settled on a farm which is now a part of 
the lower end of the city of Madison. He 
married Miss Elizabeth Brown, who was 
the daughter of Thomas Brown, a native of 
Maryland, who was an early settler at 
Madison. He was Associate Judge of the 
county in early days, and was a prominent 
business man of Madison in the pork busi- 
ness. Capt. Gale was raised in the city of 
Madison, and attended the common schools 
of the place. He enlisted in the United 
States service, in the 6th Beg. Ind. Vols. 
in the three mouths' service ; was among 
the first sworn in in the State ; was mustered 
in as first lieutenant of Co. E, and served as 
such till the close of the term. He then 
re-enlisted in the 39th Beg. Ind. Vols. 
(8th Cavalry) in September, 1861; he was 
mustered in as captain of Co. H, and served 
until August, 1865, and was with his regi- 
ment in all of the principal battles of the 
regiment. The most noted of these cam- 
paigns was with Gen. Sherman, from Shiloh 
to North Carolina, known as the march to 
the sea. The regiment was Gen. Sherman's 
escort at the time of Gen. Johnston's sur- 



226 



JEFFERSON- COUNTY 



render. After the war Capt. Gale returned 
home, and was elected County Auditor of 
Jefferson county, and served for two terms. 
After his second term as Auditor expired, 
he engaged in farming in Monroe township, 
where he still resides upon his farm of 100 
acres of well-improved land. 

In 1870 he was married to Miss Harriet 
M. Sering, daughter of John G. Sering, 
one of the early-born inhabitants of Madi- 
son. Mr. Sering was one of the first 
queensware merchants of the city. He 
and his father-in-law, Mr. John Mellen, 
were the first firm who dealt exclusively in 
china, glass and queensware. Mr. Sering 
was Clerk of the county for many years. 



NICHOLAS GASAWAY (deceased) was 
born November 1, 1806, in Clark county, 
Ind., near the Gasaway Church, the second 
Methodist society formed in the State. 

December 22, 1831, he was married to 
Miss Elizabeth Jackson, of Jefferson 
comity, Ind. He removed to this county 
and located in Smyrna township in 1832, 
where he continued to reside during the 
remainder of his life. 

He was converted and joined the church 
when only seventeen years old, under the 
ministry of Eev. James Armstrong, at 
Shiloh, on Kent Circuit. Many a Methodist 
preacher remembers the genial face and 
hearty welcome of this good brother. His 
home was ever open for the itinerant,when the 



best was always brought out to grace the 
occasion. In the theology of Methodism 
he was well read, — it was his study. New 
and novel notions found no place in his 
belief. What the Bible taught, as inter- 
preted by Wesley, Fletcher, Clark, Watson, 
he took as the basis of his belief, and con- 
formed his life to it. To the young min- 
ister he was a safe counselor and warm 
friend. Many of the ministers who, at 
different times, found rest at his home, 
also found they could obtain the sound- 
est of instruction from this man of God. 

He served the church in the capacity of 
steward for twenty years, and for forty-two 
years he was a constant reader of the 
Western Christian Advocate. 

He died in 1879, at the age of 72 years. 
He left a widow and seven children, three 
boys and four girls — Elmore Y., Wilber F., 
Charles D., Margaret, Mary, Louisa and 
Clara. Elmore Y. is married and living in 
Chicago, where he is agent of the Pacific 
Express Company. 

Wilber F. is married and farming in 
Kansas. Charlie D. is living in Chicago, 
and is agent of the American Express Com- 
pany. Margaret is living in Grand Forks, 
Dak., with her son Miles E. Harbin. 
Louisa is married to E. L. Smalley, a 
lawyer, and is living in Waverly, Iowa. 
Clara is married to L. C. Tate, a marble 
dealer at Bloomfield, Ind. Mary is unmar- 
ried, and lives on the old home-place, which 
consists of ninety-two acres of fine land, 
situated just north of Volga. 

Mrs. Gasaway, widow of Nicholas, died 
in 1883. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



227 



Nicholas Gasaway was school trustee for 
many years, and was a kind father and a 
devoted husband. 



MARCUS AURELIUS GAVITT was born 
in Madison, Indiana, June 27, 1824, son 
of M. A. and Elizabeth (Handy) Gavitt. 
He was brought up in the city, and attend- 
ed the Presbyterian Sabbath-school. About 
all of his scholastic education was obtained 
there. His father was of French origin ; 
his mother was a Pennsylvania Dutch 
woman. 

His father died in 1842, at the age of 
forty-four years. His mother died in 1835, 
at thirty-seven years of age. When oidy 
ten years of age he commenced to make 
his own living. His first venture was driv- 
ing oxen. The next he apprenticed him- 
self to learn' the confectionery and bakery 
business in 1837, at which he continued 
for five years. 

In 1842 he went into a dry goods and gro- 
cery house as a clerk, and remained one 
year. Then he hired himself as a team- 
ster, and drove a team for six years for 
one man. In 1849 he commenced driving 
a dray on his own account, and continued 
this for one year. 

In 185G was elected City Marshal on the 
Democratic ticket, and served one year. In 
1857 was appointed on the police force of 
the city, and continued in that place until 
1861 ; was then appointed City Marshal, to 



fill a vacancy caused by the Marshal, Mr. 
John Gerber, volunteering as a soldier in 
the war of the Rebellion. Served as a Mar- 
shal for three months, when he resigned, to 
join the army himself. 

In 1861 he went into the 24th Ind. Inf. 
Vols., and was soon after commissioned 
Quartermaster of the regiment. Served 
until May, 1864, when he resigned his com- 
mission ; coming home entered the auction- 
eering business, which he has constantly 
engaged in ever since, excepting the years 
1875 and 1876, when he was Sheriff of 
Jefferson county. He was elected on the 
Democratic ticket ; at that time the Repub- 
lican majority in the county was 450 — his 
majority was sixty-six. 

Mr. Gavitt was married in 1849 to Miss 
Clara Denning, of Jefferson county. She 
died in 1856, leaving two children — Julia 
and Howard. He married again in 1857, 
to Miss Emehne Vorhees, who died in No- 
vember, 1888, leaving two children — Clara 
and Ida. Clara is married to John Vogel- 
sang, and lives in Chicago. All of his 
children are still living. 



CHARLES H. GEORGE is a native of 
Jefferson county, and was born December 
4, 1849. He is the son> of Thomas D. and 
Elizabeth (Clark) George, natives of Trim- 
ble county, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio, re- 
spectively. 

His grandfather, Milton George, came 



228 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



from Kentucky and settled in Madison 
township, Jefferson county, in 1830. 

His maternal grandfather, Capt. Samuel 
Clark, is a native of Baltimore, Md. ; he 
came to Madison, Ind., in 1831. He was 
a steamhoat captain on the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi rivers, and lost his life by the ex- 
plosion of the boilers of the "Gen. Brown," 
November 25, 1838. 

Thomas D. George, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born in Trimble 
county, Ky., and died November 15, 1869, 
at the age of 45 years. He was a man 
honored by those who knew him, and was 
prominent in his own township, holding 
township offices at one time. He was 
actively engaged in the Baptist ministry 
during the last fifteen years of his life. 

Thomas George, great-grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was one of the early 
settlers of Madison, having taught school 
there. He was a Revolutionary soldier. 
Mrs. E. George, the mother of Charles H. 
George, was one of the earliest jmpils of the 
Lower Seminary at Madison, Mr. Reynolds 
being the teacher. Mr. C. H. George owns 
172 acres of land. 



BRUCE GILLESPIE was born Febru- 
ary 20, 1831, in Dearborn county, Ind. 
He is the son of Robert and Margaret 
(Robertson) Gillespie, natives of Scotland. 
Robert Gillespie was born in Leith, educa- 
ted in Edinburg, at the School of Medicine. 



He was a classmate of Dr. Wm. David- 
son, who practiced medicine for many years 
in the city of Madison. Margaret Gilles- 
pie was born at the Frith of Forth. They 
were married in Scotland, and came to 
the United States in 1819, and settled in 
Dearborn county, now Ohio county, Ind. 
They raised nine children. Dr. Gillespie 
bought a half-section of land, and made a 
home for his family on the Frontier. He 
was the pioneer Doctor of that country, and 
and lived to see the wild woods of his early 
home converted into peaceful homes, and 
towns and villages of Christian people tak- 
ing the place of wandering tribes of sava- 
ges. He died in 1846. The subject of our 
sketch was raised on a farm, and educated 
in the common schools. He worked at 
machinery and gun-making in his younger 
days, and still does that kind of work along 
with farming. In 1857 he was married to 
Miss Laura A. Gould, whose father, Sam- 
uel Gould, was a native of Pennsylvania, 
born in 1797. In 1805 he moved to the 
State of New York, and settled near Seneca 
Lake, where he learned the trade of tan- 
ner. In 1818 he emigrated to the White 
Water Valley in Indiana; there he married 
Nancy Wiley, in 1822. In 1S36 he re- 
moved to Ohio county, Ind. In 1860 he 
removed to Osgood, Ripley county, Ind., 
where he remained the rest of his life. He 
died in 1882. In 1S15 he worked at the 
same shop with Gen. W. H. Harrison. 
Bruce and Laura Gillespie are the parents 
of six children : William R., who gradua- 
ted at the Ohio Medical College in 1887, 
and is now practicing in Rising Sun, Ohio 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



229 



county — he married Miss Bina Shiverly, 
of Deerfield, Mo. ; Nellie, married to Dr. 
Firth, of Madison, Ind., and now practic- 
ing at Deerfield, Mo; Mary C, married to 
John Land, living in Deerfield, Mo. ; John 
B., who lives in Washington Territory ; 
Stephen B. and George W., who are both 
at home. 

Bruce Gillespie owns a fine farm of 135 
acres of well-improved land. 



GEEEN B. GILTNER, Lancaster town- 
ship, lives on a little farm of twenty acres, 
which he owns, that lies adjacent to the 
town of Lancaster, in Lancaster township. 
He is highly esteemed by his neighbors, as is 
evinced by the fact of electing him township 
trustee in the year 18S6, and re-electing him 
in 1888. He is a good citizen and an up- 
rigbt, moral man, and a member of the 
Baptist Church. 

He was born November 17, 1846, in 
Smyrna township, Jefferson county ; at- 
tended the schools of that township ; was 
married in 1869 to Miss Ella Spielman, of 
this township ; was elected trustee of the 
township in 1872; elected justice of the 
peace in that township in 1876, and lived 
in that township until 1878. He then re- 
moved to Lancaster township, where he 
still resides. He has six living children, 
three boys and three girls: Leora, Thomas 
D., Flora, Myra C, Philip and Robert E. 
He enlisted on the 26th day of September, 



1861, in Co. D, Fiftieth Regiment Indiana 
Volunteers, and served till the 9th of June, 

1862, when he was discharged on account 
of disability. He is a member of the G. A. R. 
He was appointed Notary Public for Lan- 
caster township in 1879, but resigned this 
office in the spring of 1886, when he was 
elected trustee of the township. His parents 
were Philip and Nancy Jane (Conway) 
Giltner. His father was born in Bourbon 
county, Ky., but raised in Hunter's Bot- 
tom, Trimble county, Ky. ; he came to 
Indiana when about 21 years old, and 
settled on a farm in Smyrna township, 
Jefferson county, where he now lives. His 
mother was a native of Indiana, and is now 
living. Mr. G. B. Giltner is a Republi- 
can. 



JOSEPH R. GORGAS, photographer, a 
native of Westmoreland county, Pa., was 
born Feb. 7, 1829. His parents were 
William and Ann Gorgas, who were na- 
tives of Pennsylvania. His father died in 
1845, at the age of 56 years. His mother 
died at the age of 87 years, at her home in 
Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Gorgas learned the business of 
photography in Pittsburgh, Pa. He came 
to Madison, Ind., in 1853, and engaged as 
clerk in the dry goods store of Mr. Irhy 
Smith, where he remained for about three 
months. 

He then opened a gallery for photograph- 
ing, and has continued in that business 



230 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



ever since in Madison, with the exception 
of about three years, during which time he 
made an extended trip through the South, 
on a floating photograph gaUery. 

He subsequently returned to Madison, 
Ind., and re-established himself in his 
business. He has built up a fine trade in 
this line, having the best in the city. He 
is a superior artist in his line and deserves 
the great popularity which is now his. 

In 1865 he married Miss Delphina Verry, 
daughter of Mr. John Verry, an old citizen 
of Madison. He has one child, Anna, who 
is the wife of Mr. Edward E. Powell, also 
of Madison. 

Mr. Gorgas is a member of the I. 0. 0.F. 
and Knights of Pythias, and is Captain of 
the Madison Division, No. 10, of K. of P. 
He has held this office for two years. 



GEORGE W. GRASTON, dealer in flour, 
grain, lumber and timber, Dupont,Lancaster 
township, Jefferson county, Ind., and pro- 
prietor of the Dupont Flour and Saw-Mill. 
Mr. Graston was born in Silver Creek town- 
ship, Clark county, September 20, 1834. 
He was brought up in Clark county until 
he was sixteen years of age, when he went 
to Jennings county and remained there un- 
til 1854, engaged in farming. In 1854 he 
went to Shelby county Ind., where he en- 
gaged in farming for two years, and in the 
latter part of 1856 returned to Jennings 
county, and engaged in the milling busi- 



ness. He remained in this mill for two 
years, and then came to Jefferson county 
September 1,. IS 58, where he has been ever 
since, engaged in the lumber and milling 
business. 

On December 15, 1858, he was married 
to Miss Minerva C. Corya, daughter of Isaac 
Corya, a farmer of this county. Tbey have 
a family of seven living children, five girls 
and two boys, viz : Luella, Mary I., Michael 
E., Perry A., Laura A., Minuie and Eva. 
Ella is married to John Dunn, an en- 
gineer on the 0. & M. R. R., and lives at 
Deputy, Ind. Perry and Mike are both 
married ; Mike lives in Dupont, Perry lives 
in Newport, Ky. 

Mr. Graston is the son of William and 
Catherine (Hitch) Graston, who were na- 
tives of Knox county, Tenn., and came to 
Indiana in 1829, and settled in Silver 
Creek township, Clark county. They came 
on horseback, and brought all their worldly 
goods with them, also on horseback. Mr. 
William Graston was a blacksmith by trade. 
He died in Missouri in June, 1876. His 
wife died in 1842, at the age of forty years. 

The subject of this sketch commenced 
his life without any money, and by energy 
and industry has made a good living, raised 
a nice family, and is still doing well. The 
mill he owns at present is of the roller 
process, and he does the best work and 
makes good flour. He is also the largest 
farmer in the township, having raised in 
1886 one hundred acres of wheat, and in 
1888 raised one hundred acres of corn. 

Mr. Graston has built up a large trade in 
his line of business and employs more men 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



231 



than any other person in the township. He 
pays out more money for hired help anil 
does more to help the people. He has 
bought, paid for and shipped $12,000 worth 
of wheat since harvest; in 18S7 he cut 
over 1,000,00$ feet of lumber. Mr. Gras- 
ton is a member of the M. E. Church and 
is superintendent of the Sunday-school, 
and also a trustee of the church and one 
of the stewards of his church. 

He is a member of the I. 0. O. F. and of 
the Masonic Order; and is an inflexible 
Democrat in politics. 



REV. LOUIS GUEGUEN, Rector of St. 
Michael's Church, Madison, Ind. Father 
Gueguen is a native of France, and was 
born February 25, 1834, near Rostrenen, 
Department of Cotes du Nord. He gradu- 
ated from the Ecclesiastical College of 
Plouguemevel in 1855, and went through 
the theological course at St. Brieae, the 
seat of the Department, in the years from 
1855 to 1859. 

He came to the United States in 1859, 
having, before leaving France, received the 
order of deacon, and was ordained as priest 
in Vineennes, Ind., on the 8th day of De- 
cember of the same year, by Bishop De St. 
Palais, by whose solicitation he came to 
this country. After ordination he was ap- 
pointed as assistant to the Rev. H. Du Ponta- 
vice, at Madison, Ind., with whom he stayed 
the better part of one year, when he was 



called to Washington, Daviess county, Ind., 
where he was stationed for only a few 
months. From there he was appointed 
pastor of a congregation in Floyd county, 
near New Albany, where he stayed nearly 
three years, when he came, at the call of 
his ecclesiastical superior, to the City of 
New Albany, where he had charge of the 
Church of the Holy Trinity for a short time. 

From New Albany he was appointed, in 
L864, as pastor of a congregation at Loo- 
gootee, Martin county, Ind., and attending 
from there two country churches — one in 
Martin and one in Daviess county — besides 
having a smaller congregation in Martin 
county. Being relieved from two of these 
churches after eighteen months of service, 
he was retained at the Loogootee and St. 
Martin Churches, together, for nineteen 
years, and at Loogootee for twenty-one 
years. At both of these places he was in- 
strumental in building churches; and at 
Loogootee he built a parsonage. 

In 1885 he was appointed rector of St. 
Michael's Church, in Madison, Ind., where 
he has been for over three years. 

The school in connection with St. 
Michael's is managed by the Sisters of 
Providence ; the attendance is about 150 
pupils. 



ALONZO J. HALL, teacher, Volga, 
Smyrna township, Jefferson county, Ind., 
is a native of Jefferson county, Ind. was 



232 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



born December 18, 1853, brought up on a 
farm, was educated in the common schools 
of the county and graduated in 1S78, at 
the Lebanon National Normal School at 
Lebanon, Ohio. After leaving school he 
engaged in teaching district schools in this 
county, and has been engaged in this work, 
principally, ever since; is now teaching 
Fairview school, in Republican township, 
this county. He married, in 1885, Miss 
Mary A. Gasaway, daughter of Mrs. Mary 
A. Gasaway, of Deputy, Ind. Has one 
child — Homer G. Mr. Hall is a member of 
the Lick Branch Baptist Church. He owns 
a farm of eighty-eight acres of good land, 
one mile west of Volga postoffice. His 
parents were Abner and Malinda (Walton) 
Hall, both natives of Indiana, and now 
living on a farm in Graham township. 
Both are members of the Lick Branch Bap- 
tist Church. His father is a prominent 
farmer of Graham township. 



JOHN F. HAMMELL is the son of John 
and Mary (Aston) Hammell. His father 
was a native of Salem, Washington county, 
N. Y., and his mother of East St. Louis. 
His father settled in Harrison county in 
1846; was a teamster in the Thirty-ninth 
Reg. Ind. Vols., served eighteen months, 
when he was captured. Being attacked 
with rheumatism he went home. He was 
5S years old when he went into the army. 



He was born May 31, 1803, and died in 
1887. 

Mr. John F. Hammell, the subject of 
this sketch, was born in Harrison county, 
Ind., May 7, 1847. He was the only son 
of his parents. He was reared in Jefferson 
county, his father removing to Trimble 
county, Ky., when he was but four or five 
years old. 

In 1 862, August 20, he enlisted in the 
Eighty-second Ind. Vols, as a private, then 
being only 15 years old. He served until 
the close of the war. 

At the close of the war he worked in the 
ship-yard until 1 874, when he opened a re- 
tail grocery, and is now doing a good busi- 
ness. He owns eleven houses in West 
Madison, and holds the office of treasurer 
of West Madison. 

He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., K. of 
P. and G. A. R. Is Past Post Commander 
of G. A. R. Was the delegate from the 
Fourth Ind. Congressional District to the 
G. A. R. National Encampment, at San 
Francisco, Cal., in 1886. 

He is at present Captain of Sons of Vet- 
erans. He was married, September 22, 
1S67, to Miss Sophia Blackard, of Madi- 
son, Ind., daughter of Peter and Rebecca 
(Johnson) Blackard, who were Virginians. 
They have no living children ; but have one 
adopted daughter. 



WM. WALLACE HINDS is a native of 
Madison, Ind., born June 8, 1855 ; brought 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



233 



up in Madison, attended the city schools 
and Hanover College. He is also a gradu- 
ate of the Commercial School of this city. 

He became the city editor of the Madi- 
son Daily Star, June 1, 1880, and con- 
tinued as such until it was absorbed in the 
Madison Daily Courier. He was then offered 
the circulation department of that paper, 
in January, 1884, which he accepted and 
held until August, 1S88, when he gave up 
that position. 

He was elected one of the trustees of the 
City Water Works in the spring of 188S, 
on the Republican ticket against a Demo- 
cratic majority in the city. The trustees 
elected him president of the Board, and 
superintendent of the Water Works, which 
position he is still holding (Dec, 1888). 

While with the Daily Courier, he was 
elected a member of the City Council in 
1S85 on the Republican ticket, and was re- 
elected to the same position in 1886, from 
fourth ward of the city. 

Mr. Hinds is an active Odd Fellow and 
a prominent member of the K. of P. Order, 
having held the position of Grand Inner 
Guard of the State, and is now District 
Deputy. He was captain of the Madison 
Division No. 10 U. Rank K. of P. He is 
now president of Walnut Street Fire Co. No. 
4. He is an attendant of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church of this city. Mr. W. W. 
Hinds is the son of James W. and Ruth C. 
(Cook) Hinds. His father was a native of 
Brattleborough, Vermont, born September 
24, 1809, and came to Madison, Ind., when 
a young man. 

He was a bricklayer and contractor ; he 



built a great number of houses in Madison 
and built Hanover College and the court 
house in Madison. He also engaged in the 
mercantile business at Madison and in the 
coal business. He was County Commis- 
sioner of Jefferson county, and served in 
the City Council of Madison for a number 
of years. He was a prominent Republican 
and was chairman of the Republican 
County Central Committee for some years. 

He was a member of the Second Presby- 
terian Church in Madison. He was a 
prominent member of the Odd Fellows, 
having been made at one time Grand Mas- 
ter of the State, of that order. He was a 
good citizen. He died May 22, 1878, in 
the 69th year of his age, leaving a widow 
and five children ; three boys and two girls. 

The mother of W. W. Hinds was the 
daughter of David and Mary Cook and was 
a native of East Tennessee ; she is still 
living at the age of seventy-six, and is quite 
an active, hale woman. 

She is a member of the Second Presby- 
terian Church of Madison, Indiana, and is 
cmite prominent in the work of that church 
and all other good works of that kind in the 
city ; a benevolent spirit being one of the 
chief adornments of her character. 

She was married to Dr. Joseph F. 
Lingle, at Paoli, Orange county, Indiana, 
in 1831. By this marriage she had one 
son, William Summerfield Lingle, who be- 
came the editor of the Lafayette (Indiana) 
Daily Courier, and was a prominent man 
in newspaper circles of the State. Mr. 
Lingle was also postmaster of Lafayette 
for four years. 



234 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



In the year 1836, Mrs. Lingle was mar- 
ried to J. W. Hinds, and the fruits of this 
marriage were nine children — five boys and 
four girls. 



HENRY JACKSON, farmer, Shelby 
township, is the son of John Jackson and 
Matilda Jackman. His father was born 
in New Jersey in 1801; moved to Tennes- 
see about 1807, with his father Thomas 
Jackson, who was in the war with the 
Indians at the battle of the Horseshoe. 

They all came to Indiana in 1822. His 
mother was the daughter of Robert Jack- 
man, who was from Maryland and also 
came to Indiana in 1822. She was born in 
Pennsylvania. They were of Irish de- 
scent. 

The subject of this sketch was born on a 
farm in Jefferson county, in 1 83(3 ; was ed- 
ucated in the common schools of the 
county. He was married, in 1858, to 
Nancy Griffin, daughter of James Griffin, 
a native of Jefferson county; his people 
came from Kentucky. Immediately after 
marriage he removed to Kansas, where he 
remained ten months, and then returned 
to Jefferson county, where he still resides. 
He has six living children — Robert, James, 
Matilda, Henrietta, Grace and Harry. 
He owns forty-six acres of well-improved 
land. 

He succeeded in giving to all his children 
a better education than he had. One, 
Elmer, was educated for a teacher, but 
died at nineteen from a wound in his hand. 



Four of his children are married, and all 
live in Shelby township ; they are all 
farmers. 

Mr. Jackson never sought office, and is a 
good, trusty, honorable citizen. 



HENRY JINES, farmer, Monroe town- 
ship, is the son of Silas Jines ; the latter 
born in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 8, 1812, and 
came to Ohio, when 19 years of age, with 
his father's family. They lived there but 
two years, when they came to Indiana and 
settled in Jefferson county, Monroe town- 
ship, in 1835. 

His father's name was Jacob Jines ; was 
a brave soldier in the Revolutionary war, 
and while marching to meet Gen. Ross, 
was shot by two young Britishers ; and he 
was a celebrated pioneer preacher, as well 
as an expert fiddler before he began to 
preach; he organized Big Creek Church, 
and helped to build up Marble Church, 
both in Monroe township. 

Silas Jines was a soldier in the 6th Reg. 
Ind. Vols, during the Rebellion, as were 
his two sons, Henry, the subject of this 
sketch, and William, who were in the 22d 
Reg. Ind. Vols., as musicians. 

Mr. Silas Jines was a prominent free- 
soiler abolitionist in the days that it took 
courage, both moral and physical, to stand 
for the principles avouched by those parties. 
He was a conductor, and his house a sta- 
tion, on the Underground Railroad. 

Henry Jines, subject of this sketch, was 
born Feb. 27, 1S39, in Hamilton county, 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



235 



Ohio, and came to Indiana in 1842, with 
his father, Silas Jines. 

He was raised in a cooper shop, and re- 
ceived a very limited education. On July 
4, 1861, he enlisted as a musician in the 
22d Reg. Ind. Vol. Infantry, and served 
until discharged on Aug. 22, 1864. He was 
in all the thirty-two battles of his regiment 
except Pea Eidge, at which time he had 
small-pox. He enlisted as a private in the 
16th Mounted Infantry (Ind. Troops) 
stationed at New Orleans, La. ; he served 
in this regiment eight months,when he was 
transferred to the 13th Ind. Cav., under 
Johnson, on the 19th day of June, 1865. 
He was honorably discharged from the 
service of his country on the 13th day of 
November, 1865. 

On the 6th day of December, 1865, he 
was married to Kesiah Kirk, daughter of 
Joseph Kirk, a Virginian, who came to 
Kentucky, and then to Indiana, in an early 
day. The result of this union was six 
children, viz : James F., Fanny L. J., 
Hester A., LevinaL., Jacob J. and George W. 

Mr. Jines is postmaster at Faulkner ; is 
a charter member of John A. Hendricks 
Post, G. A. E., and was Adjutant of the 
Post three years, and Surgeon one, and now 
this year Junior Vice Commander. He 
owns nineteen acres of land. 

It would seem that a vein of martial mu- 
sic ran through the blood of the Jines 
family, as the two paternal great-grand- 
fathers of Henry Jines and Dean were 
fifers in the Eevolutionary war ; then, jump- 
ing over two generations, Henry and his 
brother William served as filers in the 



late war, serving four years one month 
and sixteen days. 



HENEY CLAY JONES, of Madison, 
Ind., is the son of Joshua E. and Eachel 
(Coons) Jones, natives of Eoss and Hamil- 
ton counties, Ohio. He was born Septem- 
ber 26, 1837, in Cincinnati. When he 
was only two years of age his mother 
moved to Jeffersonville, Ind., his father 
having died previous to this time; there 
she remained for about two years, and 
moved to Madison, Ind., in 1841. Mr. 
Jones afterward went back to Jeffersonville, 
to his grandfather Coons, and attended 
school. In 1858, he engaged in the grain 
and produce business in Madison, Ind., 
in which he continued till 1866. At this 
time he engaged in steam and flatboating 
to New Orleans and up the Kentucky 
river, and followed this business up to 1876, 
since which time he has been engaged in 
the log and lumber business. He has fur- 
nished large lots of lumber for the Govern- 
ment work upon the Ohio and Kentucky 
rivers. He, with Mr. Wm. Kirk, took the 
contract and built the Eising Sun dike, 
and he was one of the contractors to fur- 
nish the lumber for Dam No. 1, on the 
Kentucky river, and for the Portland dike 
at Louisville, Kentucky. Is now in saw- 
mill at Madison, Ind. Mr. Jones was 
married on December 18, 1859, to Miss 
Margaret Bishop, and has three living 
children: Elmer G., Eichard J. and Euth 
P. His Grandmother Jones lived to the 



236 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



very old age of 97 years, died near Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio. His mother died in Madi- 
son in 1871, at 63 years. 



WILLIAM JOHNSON, farmer, Shelby 
township, was born in the State of Ken- 
tucky, March 1, IS02. He was the young- 
est child of Thomas Johnson, a native of 
Virginia, who took a trip down the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers about the year 1804 and 
never returned. William Johnson's mother 
moved near Lexington, and afterward to 
Shelby county, Ky. Her family consisted 
of three boys and one girl. At the age 
of 23, Mr. Johnson came to Indiana ; he 
landed at Madison, which was then a very 
small town. He settled in Shelby township, 
on the farm where he now lives with his 
son, and built himself a stone house, in 
which he has always resided. Previous to 
this, however, at the age of twenty-one, he 
was married to Miss Nancy Spaulding, 
daughter of Eobert Spaulding, a native of 
Virginia and one of the pioneers of Ken- 
tucky. 

He and his wife were the parents of ten 
children : William, Sally A., Jordan, 
Rhodes, Henry, Elizabeth, Miranda, Mary 
Jane, Francis and John. Of these all are 
living but Sally A. and Elizabeth, and all 
live in Jefferson county but William and 
Mary Jane, who both live in Kansas. 

Mr. Johnson's wife died July 31, 1880. 
He has never held an office. He was edu- 
cated in the log school-house days, when 



the chimney was in the corner of the house, 
and the education was of a limited and 
poor character. When he first settled in 
Indiana, two or three months were spent 
every spring at log rollings, until the 
land of his neighbors was cleared and their 
bouses built. In those early days the 
equipment of a farmer, in the way of tools, 
was a bull-tongue plow and a chopping axe ; 
some time after the wooden mould board 
plow was introduced ; then came the old 
Barshear, which were considered in their 
.day as superior in kind as the advanced 
machinery of the present day is now. 
Trace chains were a luxury belonging to 
the richer class of farmers — the poorer were 
content with hickory wythes. 

Mr. Johnson has laid off corn ground 
without either line or collar. John E. John- 
son, the third son of the above, and with 
whom he makes his home since death of his 
wife,was born November 4, 1830, on the farm 
where he now lives, and was raised a farm- 
er. August 14, 1S62, he was married to 
Cynthia Barber, daughter of James Barber, 
a farmer of Jefferson county. They have 
but one child — Ettie L. 

Mr. John R. Johnson was a soldier in 
Co. C, Eighty-second Regiment Indiana 
Volunteers, and was in all the principal 
engagements of his regiment during the 
time of service. 

He is a member of the A. 0. Bachman 
Post, No. 26, G. A. R. He is a prominent 
member of the Baptist Church. 

He owns 67 acres of good, well- improved 
land. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



237 



EDWARD KAMPE, merchant, corner 
Third and Walnut streets, Madison, Ind., 
was a native of Germany, born in 184-0, 
June 29. He came to the United States 
with his parents when only twelve years of 
age, and located in Madison. 

He attended the common schools of the 
city, and after leaving school learned the 
trade of a carpenter, which he continued 
to work at until 1SG5, when he engaged in 
his present business, that of dry goods and 
grocery store ; he also handles feed and all 
kinds of seed. Mr. Kampe has continued 
at this business at the same place ever 
since, and has built up a large trade, and 
has been very successful. He is one of the 
principal stockholders and one of the direc- 
tors and vice-president of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Madison. Is also one of 
the stockholders and vice-president of 
Building Association No. 5. Mr. Kampe 
is a Mason and a member of the German 
M. E. Church. He is also a correspondent 
of the German National Bank of Cincin- 
nati, collecting much money for the Ger- 
mans through them. He is a notary pub- 
lic, and is a stockholder in the Firemen 
and Mechanics Insurance Company of this 
city, and has held stock in most all of the 
enterprises of the city. 

He was married, in 1866, to Miss Cecelia 
Grebe, daughter of Jacob Grebe, an old 
settler of this city, and a prominent busi- 
ness man for many years; in the latter 
part of his life lie was a farmer. 

Mr. Kampe has one child, a son, Wesley, 
wlio is now a student at Hanover. His 
parents were George and Anne (Von Disen) 



Kampe. His father is still living in 
Madison, at the age of 74 years. His 
mother died in 1875, at the age of 62 
years. Mr. Kampe is one of Madison's 
best business men. 



FBANCIS M. LANDON, Lancaster, Lan- 
caster township, was born in Hamil- 
ton county, Ohio, November 23, 1832 ; is 
the son of William and Elizabeth (Riggle) 
Landon. His father was born in Kentucky, 
December 22, 1810; his mother was bora 
at Walnut Hills, Ohio, October 7, 1811. 
They were married at Walnut Hills, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1828, and raised a family of five 
children, of whom Francis M. is the second 
child. His father was a miller and farmer 
of this county, and died October 9, 1863, 
at the age of 53 years. His mother died 
January 2, 1S0O, at the age of 49 years. 

His parents removed from Ohio to Scott 
county, Ind., when he was an infant, and 
about five years after removed to Jefferson 
county, and located on Big creek, his 
father buying what was known as "Settle 
Mill," a flour, grist and saw-mill. His 
father farmed, also. 

The subject of this sketch attended the 
common schools of this county. He was 
married, April 15, 1856, to Miss Malinda 
Zenor, daughter of David Zenor, who 
was born at Harper's Ferry, Ya., of Ger- 
man parentage, and who died in this 
county, January 5, 1SS7, at the age of 
80 years. 

Francis M. Landon and wife have five 



238 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



children, one boy and four girls : Eliza- 
beth, William A., Jennie, Agnes and Clara. 

Mr. Landon commenced the milling busi- 
ness when only twelve and one-half years 
old, and has been engaged at the same 
business ever since. He took charge of the 
mill at that early age because the failing 
sight of his father incapacitated him for the 
work. Francis M. and his brother George 
built a new mill in 1S56, a stone structure, 
37x40, four stories high, with capacity of 100 
barrels per day, at a cost of $10,000. It 
was destroyed by fire in 1869. His father 
was in debt at the time, but the young man 
succeeded in making a living, and paying 
the debt, and at the same time building up 
a large trade, which has remained with him 
ever since. His long experience has made 
him thorough in all departments of the 
mill, so that when he gets any improved ma- 
chinery he is able to put it up himself, also 
can repair almost anything about the mill. 

Except for a few months of that time 
that he was in Jennings county, the whole 
of that time has been spent in Jefferson 
county. The mill he is now running is 
located at Lancaster; it is a merchant 
custom mill (Hour and grist). His son 
William A. is now with him in the mill, 
the firm being Landon & Son. 

In 1878 Mr. Landon was appointed 
county commissioner, to fill the unexpired 
term of James Baxter, and in 1880 was 
elected county commissioner for the term 
of three years, on the Eepublican ticket. 

Mr. Landon is a member of the Baptist 
Church at Lancaster. Mr. Landon has 
been successful jn his business, and very 



few who have started out to make their 
fortunes at so young an age as he have 
succeeded so well. Honesty in business and 
probity of life have been his rule of life, 
and once a friend of his always a friend 
has been the result. He has now custom- 
ers who have dealt with him forty-five 
years. Such a testimonial is vouchsafed to 
few men in this world. 

Mr. Landon is in remarkably good health 
for a man who has been so long engaged in 
the milling business, night and day. He 
deserves his success as the reward for such 
persevering labor, as well as for his pluck. 
A boy who at that age was laden with the 
reponsibility of a family and of debt, is 
seldom able to come out from under the 
load, and if he does is usually soured. Mr. 
Landon is as cheery as if everything had 
gone smoothly for him in this world, and 
does not show in his manner the troubles 
lie has come through. 



JOHN W. LINCK, attorney-at-law, was 
born in Jennings county, Indiana, Decem- 
ber 7, 1843. He was the son of Frederick 
E. and Esther (Todd) Linck, who were na- 
tives, the father of Germany, and the 
mother of Ireland. 

His father came to the United States 
when sixteen years old. He was a farmer 
and teamster. 

John W. Linck, the subject of this 
sketch, was educated in the common schools 
and at Asbury College — now DePauw Uni- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



239 



versity — at Greencastle, Indiana, which he 
attended for two years after leaving the 
the army. 

On June 19, 1861, he joined Co. K, 13th 
Ind. Inf. Vols., as a drummer hoy ; was out 
in the field in active service, over three 
years, in that capacity, and was in all of 
the battles in which his regiment fought dur- 
ing that time. 

He began the study of law in 1866, un- 
der the Hon. William Hale, of Iowa. He 
attended the lectures at the law school at 
Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennes- 
see. He returned to Madison, Indiana, 
and continued the study of law in the office 
of Messrs. Allison & Friedley, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1867. During the 
time of studying in the office of Allison & 
Friedley, he was elected Justice of the 
Peace, and served as such, for the double 
purpose of continuing his studies and of 
maintenance, as he was quite poor. He was 
appointed Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, 
which office he held for two years, and was 
also City Attorney for two years. He was 
appointed by Gov. Baker, Prosecutor 
of the Criminal Court of Jefferson 
county, upon its organization, and was 
afterward elected, and held the office for 
nearly four years, or so long as the court 
was in existence. 

He was United States Commissioner from 
1874 to 1877. 

He was director of the Indiana State 
Prison, South, for four years, up to 1880, 
when he resigned, before the expiration of 



his commission, in order to accept the 
place of elector for the Fourth Congression- 
al District of Indiana on the Garfield 
ticket. 

From 1881 to 1885, he was postmaster 
at Madison. In 1886 he was elected as 
Representative from Jefferson county to the 
State Legislature. While in the House of 
Representatives he was chairman of the 
committee of public buildings; chairman 
of the special election committee; also 
chairman of one branch of the committee 
on prisons. He was re-elected in 1888, 
Representative from Jefferson county on 
the Republican ticket. In politics he is a 
Republican. 

He was married in 1868, to Miss Julia 
LaCroix, of Nashville, Tenn., who died in 
1870, leaving one child, Stella Esther, and 
was again married to Miss Mina Frevert, 
who died in 1884, leaving one child, Lizzette. 

Mr. Linek is a member of the G. A. R., 
and the order of Masons, of the I. 0. 0. F., 
Red Men, of the Grand Lodge of U. 0. and 
K. of G. R. He was an original stock- 
holder in the Madison Woolen Mills. He 
.assisted in organizing the Madison Stove 
Foundry, and was its first secretary. He 
was also one of the original stockholders in 
the Cotton Mill. He is a member of Fire 
Co. No. 1., of Madison; and a member of 
the M. and M. Club, Board of Trade. Mr. 
Linck owns 160 acres of land in Jefferson 
county, Ind., and a fine orange grove in 
Florida, together with several houses in the 
city of Madison. 



240 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



ZEPHANIAH LLOYD, farmer, Republi- 
can township, Jefferson county. The subject 
of this sketch is a farmer, and has always 
resided on a farm, having been born on 
one. He was born in Somerset county, on 
the eastern shore of Maryland, in the year 
1805. 

Mr. Lloyd was left an orphan when only 
five years of age ; his mother died when he 
was only three months old. He was reared 
by his half-brother, Mr. Tubmond Wright, 
and came West, and settled in Switzerland 
county, Ind., in the spring of 1817, when he 
(Lloyd) was only twelve years old. He re- 
mained with his half-brother until 1822, 
when he was seventeen years old, when he 
came to Jefferson county, where he has re- 
sided ever since. 

His brother Tubmond Wright died in 
March, 1828, at the age of 39 years ; he was 
a farmer of Switzerland county, Ind. 

Mr. Lloyd was married, in 1824, to Miss 
Anna Latimore, who was a native of North 
Carolina, and came to Indiana in 1811, 
with her father, Daniel Latimore, who was 
a farmer of this county. 

Mrs. Lloyd died September 23, 1881, at 
the age of 81 years and 8 months. She 
was a member of the M. E. Church for 
sixty-two years. Mr. Lloyd has raisednine 
children, and has lived to see them all mar- 
ried — six girls and three boys, viz : Isabel, 
Elizabeth, Ehoda, Jane, Rebecca, Delpha, 
Oliver, Zephaniah, and Marion. Rebecca 
died January 31, 1868; Elizabeth died 
June 28, 1882 ; Rhoda died August 1, 1883. 



Mr. Lloyd bought the eighty acres of 
land upon which he now lives in 1830. 

Mr. Lloyd is the only one of his family 
now living ; he is one of the oldest citizens 
now in the county, and is a good citizen, a 
man who is well liked by his acquaintances, 
respected by his neighbors, and loved by 
his friends. 

He now resides in the family of his son, 
Zephaniah, who takes care of him, as he 
is almost blind, so much so as to be unable 
to read or do any labor which requires 
sight. 

In June, 1887, Mr. Lloyd visited his old 
■home, in Switzerland county, to attend an 
old settlers' meeting, it being seventy years 
since he landed in that county; there were 
only three persons that were then living in 
the county, who were still alive. Mr. Lloyd 
has attended all of the old settlers' meetings 
of Jefferson county, and says that there are 
very few of them who are still living. 

Mr. Lloyd has had a long and useful 
life, and now, at the age of 83, cannot ex- 
pect to tarry much longer on earth, but 
when he is called he will be sorrowed for 
as for one who has done his duty. 

Zephaniah Lloyd, Jr. (or young Zeph, 
as he is called by his friends and neighbors), 
is married and has a family of two chil- 
dren, Eva J. and Thomas L. Eva is mar- 
ried to Orlando Cooperiden, a farmer of 
this township; Thomas L. is in his sixteenth 
year, and is at home with his parents. 
Young Zeph. married Miss Sarah I. 
Cosby, of Smyrna township. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



241 



JOSEPH H. LOCHARD (deceased) was 
born October 22, 1810, in Cumberland 
county, Pa. His fatber, James Locbard, 
was a Revolutionary soldier, of Scotcb 
birth. After tbe war be came to Pennsyl- 
vania, and tbere married Mary Hicks (or 
Heicks), daughter of George Hicks, who 
was a large land owner in Cumberland 
county; he was bitterly opposed to tbe 
matcb, and the young people eloped and 
were married. Several children were born 
of this marriage, the youngest of whom 
was the subject of this sketch. Tbe father 
emigrated, with his family, to Indiana in 
1810, and settled on the site of Brooksburg, 
on tbe Ohio river, in Jefferson county. He 
died shortly afterward — about 1815 — and 
was buried near the mouth of Locust creek, 
Kentucky. This left the family dependent 
on the motber and themselves. Tbe mother, 
who was an invalid, suffering severely with 
sick headache, died a few years after the 
father, leaving the family in a strange, 
wild land without any parental protection 
or guidance. 

In his boyhood the subject of this sketch 
was bound to Mr. James McCarty. During 
this time clothing and shoes were bard to 
procure, and tbe boy was compelled to dress 
in tbe summer in a tow linen shirt as bis 
entire suit, always barefooted — often he 
would be barefooted until midwinter. 
When he first went to Mr. McCarty's his 
clothing was so wretched that Mrs. Mc- 
Carty — afterward Mrs. Stewart — pitied him 
so much that she made his first pair of 
pants from a large linen apron of her own. 
Upon the death of Mr. McCarty the boy 



returned home, and being very desirous of 
procuring an education, he went to a Mr. 
Simmons, who was teaching a subscription 
school in the neighborhood, and bargained 
with him for a winter's schooling, for which 
he paid with beans. During this winter 
he found that he must have a slate in order 
to succeed with his studies, and how to 
get it without money was a problem of 
considerable trouble to study ; after a time 
he procured work for a day from a neigh- 
bor, for which he received one bushel of 
corn in payment, then he worked another 
day for the use of a horse, and took his 
bushel of corn to mill, and bad it ground, 
and then he carried it to Madison (seven 
miles) and sold tbe corn-meal for eighteen 
and three-fourth cents, and with that pur- 
chased a slate. He studied at night by tbe 
light of burning hickory bark, and thus got 
a little information which was of very great 
value to him in after life. 

He was first married when only eighteen 
years old, on the 18th of June, 1829, to Miss 
Nancy Bear, who was born April 5, 1815, 
and died August 15, 1844. There were 
three children from this union who were 
reared to maturity : Vilitta, Solomon B. 
and Sarah E. Just before this marriage 
be worked for three months for tbe sum of 
twelve dollars, with which he bought cloth- 
ing at Madison, paying prices for it which 
would now be considered enormous. 

When first married he made tbe furni- 
ture for his cabin himself. The bedstead 
was made by boring holes in tbe house 
logs for one end of the rails and setting 
up posts for the other end of the rails ; the 



242 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



rails were made of sapling poles cut in the 
woods, and the ends dressed down with the 
axe to a size to fit the holes in the house 
logs and in the posts ; then across these 
poles, for a bottom for the bed, were placed 
smaller poles. The chairs or stools were 
made by splitting logs of a proper diame- 
ter and hewing one side smoothly, then 
boring holes through the slab he put legs 
to them. About this time he began to 
chop cordwood for steamboat use. The 
first winter was spent in chopping wood for 
a very pious old man, who prayed much. 
He let his account stand open, not drawing 
any wages until the last of the wood was 
cut and delivered at Madison; then he 
found that the old man had overdrawn his 
account, and not a cent could be collected 
for his winter's work. With the money 
from this wood he had hoped to get a horse 
and some other property of which he was 
sadly in need. 

He continued to chop wood, and in the 
course of a few years he moved to Ken- 
tucky, where he owned an interest in a 
wood yard. From there he returned to 
Jefferson county, Ind., again in 1840, and 
settled in the place now known as Manville, 
where he engaged in a grocery store ; his 
beginning was on a small scale. A few 
years later he built a business house in 
that place, known as Lochard's Store, where 
he continued to do business until 18G6, 
when he removed his store to Canaan, 
Shelby township (his store was formerly in 
Milton township), where he continued in 
business until 1878, when he sold out to 
his two sons, S. B. and C. H. Lochard. 



From this time he only engaged in his pri- 
vate business, assisting his sons by advice 
in their store until March 22, 1887, when 
he died. 

Mr. Lochard was three times married ; 
his second wife was Phoebe Sherman, 
who had before married George Bear. 
She was born on the 23d of June, 1819, 
and died May 18, 1875. There was born 
one son, Cyrus H., who attained majority, 
by this marriage. 

His third marriage was to Anna M. 
Wick, who survived him about one year. 

Mr. Lochard served as justice of the 
peace for about fourteen years ; in his 
younger days he flatboated on the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers. He was a prominent 
Mason. 

Mr. Lochard was emphatically a self- 
made man, coming in his old age to a 
position of ease and affluence ; having 
started in early life in want, by industry, 
energy and preseverance and strict appli- 
cation to business, overcame all obstacles 
and made himself a success in life as a 
business man, and in an old age enjoyed 
the fruits of his labors. 

He acquired quite a fortune in money 
and stock. 



CHARLES V. LOBING (deceased), the 
subject of this sketch, was born in Jefferson 
county, March 20, 1827. He was the son 
of Richard Loring, a native of Kentucky, 
who came to this county at a very early 
date. Mr. Charles V. Loring was raised a 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



243 



farmer, educated in the common schools of 
the county. 

At the age of 23 he was married to 
Cynthia McClelland, daughter of Eohert 
and Esther (Benefiel) McClelland. Eohert 
McClelland came to Indiana in the year 
1814. The result of this marriage is three 
children : Mary, married to John B. Sel- 
lick ; Mahala and William. 

Mr. Loring was a man of prominence 
among his neighbors. He held the office of 
justice of the peace for one term. He was 
a member of the Home Guards during the 
war. He lived on his farm near Bryants- 
burgh till the day of his death, which 
occurred January 10, 1888. He was a 
kind husband and father, a good citizen. 
He owned a farm of 100 acres of well-im- 
proved land at the time of his death, where 
his widow still resides. She is cared for 
and supported by her son William, who is 
a good son, therefore a good citizen. 



JOHN MATHIS (deceased) was a fann- 
er of Shelby township. He was born in 
Trimble county, Ky., in 1808. He came 
to Indiana at an early date, with his 
mother, who was Miss Mary Warden 
previous to her marriage to Mr. William 
Mathis, father of the subject of this sketch. 
His father died some time before his widow ; 
and she, with a family of young children, 
came to this State, and made a new home 
for them, and raised them to be good citizens. 

Mr. Mathis was married March 24, 1831, 



to Miss Elizabeth Lee, daughter of Nathan 
Lee, who came to Indiana from Kentucky 
about 1815. Mr. Mathis and wife were 
the parents of twelve living children : Will- 
iam W., Nancy A., Mary J., Nathan L., 
Elijah, Susan, Bachel, Cytha, Elizabeth, 
Warner H., Malinda, Ealy and Richard. 
They are all married who are living, but 
two, Ealy and Richard, who are still at 
home with their mother, their father having 
died in 1876. 

Mr. Mathis was one of the pioneers of 
this county, and one of its best men. He 
was a prominent member and earnest 
supporter of the Baptist Church for forty 
years before he died. He was liberal and 
honest with his neighbors, and is much 
missed by his large circle of friends and 
relatives. 

He voted for Mr. William H. Harrison 
for President in 1840, and was a Whig in 
politics, and an ardent supporter of Henry 
Clay. When the old Whig party ceased, 
he voted the Republican ticket. He owned 
115 acres of well-improved land, which is 
now owned by his youngest son, Richard, 
who cares for his widowed mother and 
youngest sister. 

Three of the sons, William W., Nathan 
L. and Elijah, served through the whole of 
the war. William was a Sergeant, and 
served for five years — he lives in Nebraska ; 
Elijah lives in Jefferson county, and 
Nathan L. is a farmer in Kansas. 

Richard Mathis, the youngest son, was 
born Jan. 1, 1854, is not married, and is 
one of the best and foremost farmers of 
Jefferson county. 



244 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



WM. H. MATTHEWS, county clerk, is a 
native of Hanover township, Jefferson 
county, and was born June 16, 1849. The 
names of his parents are William and 
Martha (Pogue) Matthews, both natives of 
Pennsylvania. His mother was raised in 
Madison, was a member of one of the old 
families in Madison, and is now dead. 
His father is still living at the age of 85. 
Mr. Matthews was raised on a farm and 
was educated at Hanover College. On 
leaving the farm he was engaged as a drug 
clerk. In 1876 he went into the county 
clerk's office, with Mr. A. L. Shannon, and 
remained there as deputy clerk for eight 
years, with Mr. Shannon and Mr. W. E. 
Jackman. In 1S84 he was elected county 
clerk. In November, 1882, was married to 
Miss Mollie DeLaste, of Madison. 

Mr. Matthews was recently a candidate 
for re-election to the clerk's office as the 
nominee of the Republican party, and was 
elected. 



BOBEBT MATHEWS is a native of Jef- 
ferson county, Ind. Was born November 
15, 1S37. Is a son of Bichard and Nancy 
(Jackman) Mathews, who were natives of 
Kentucky and Pennsylvania. His father 
settled in Shelby township, this county, in 
1818, on a farm. He died in 1869. 

The subject of this sketch was raised on 
a farm. In 1862 he joined the Fifty-fifth 
Begiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 
Co. A, which fought in Kentucky. 

In 1864 he was married to Miss Nancy 



A. Demaree, daughter of William U. 
Deruaree. Two children blesses this 
union, — Ida and W. B. 

Mr. Mathews owns 317 acres of land. 
Has been secretary of the Madison and 
Canaan Turnpike Company since 1874. 
This pays about six per cent on capital 
stock. He is one of Jefferson county's 
most thrifty and successful farmers. 



WILLIAM MATTHEWS, farmer, Han- 
over township, was born in Indiana coun- 
ty, Pa., January 23, 1S03. In 1812 came 
to Butler county, Ohio, with his parents, 
where his father farmed for eighteen 
months, and then moved to this county. 

The subject of this sketch was then 
only twelve years of age, when his father 
settled on a farm in what is now Hanover 
townshij), and is consequently one of the 
earliest settlers of this county. He at- 
tended the schools, such as they were, log 
cabins and puncheon seats. There were 
no public schools in those days. 

Mr. Matthews has been on the same farm 
that his father settled on at that time ever 
since, except one summer spent in Pennsyl- 
vania. He made three trips to New Orleans 
on a flatboat — the first in 1820, the second 
in 1825, and the third in 1833. This coun- 
try was very wild when he made the first 
trip. He is perhaps the oldest citizen of the 
county who flatboated to New Orleans ; 
and one of the oldest citizens, as he came 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



245 



here before Indiana was a State, and set- 
tled in the woods. 

He was married in 1832 to Miss Mar- 
tha Pogue, daughter of John Pogue, who 
came here from Kentucky, but was a na- 
tive of Virginia. 

Mrs. Matthews was one of the pioneer 
school-teachers of the county. They raised 
six children, three boys and three girls : 
Elizabeth, Ellen C, John P., Salome J., 
Harrison H. and William H. Ellen C. 
died in the 19th year of her age, May 27, 
1S55. Mr. Matthews has served for two 
years as supervisor of roads. 

Mr. Matthews is a member of Carmel 
U. P. Church. He owns 110 acres of land, 
one and one-half miles west of Hanover, and 
adjoining Carmel Church, and three-quar- 
ters of a mile south of the Lexington and 
Hanover Pike. 

He is a son of James and Elizabeth (Cole- 
man) Matthews, both natives of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

His father died in his 84th year, and 
his mother in her 7Cth year. 



FRANCIS FRESH MAYFIELD, farmer, 
Wirt, was born in Trimble county, Ky., 
April 29, 1819, is a son of Joshua and 
Lucinda (Ouseley) Mayfield, who were na- 
tives of Kentucky, his mother being a cousin 
of Governor Ouseley, a former Governor of 
Kentucky. She died in 1876. His father 
came to this county and settled in what is 
now Monroe township, in lS.'Jl ; was a 



farmer and held the office of Justice of the 
Peace. He was in good circumstances and 
a prominent member of the Baptist Church. 
He died in 1876. He raised eight children, 
Francis F. being the oldest. 

Mr. Francis F. Mayfield sold goods 
and packed pork in Dupont, from 1845 
till in 1868. He married, in October, 
1850, Miss Adelaide, daughter of Capt. 
Samuel Wilson, an Englishman by birth, 
who was an old citizen of Madison. In 
1851 and '52 Mr. Mayfield was a member 
of the State Legislature, and assisted in the 
revision of the Statutes of Indiana. In 
1868 he went to Columbus, and there en- 
gaged extensively in the pork-packing 
business, but finally lost heavily. From 
Columbus he returned to Dupont, in this 
county, where he lived several years ; during 
this time he was justice of the peace for 
that township, for three years. In 1884 
he moved to a farm near Wirt. He was 
provost marshal during the war. He has 
three sons and five daughters. His oldest 
son is cashier in bank at Edinburgh ; the 
younger son also there. Is a Freemason. 



GEORGE T. MAYFIELD is a native of 
this county, and was born October 17, 
1856. His parents were Jeptha and Emilie 
J. (Dailey) Mayfield, natives of Kentucky 
and of Jefferson county, Ind. 

His Grandfather Dailey was an early 
settler of this county, from Kentucky. 
His father was also an early settler 



246 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



here. Mr. G. T. Mayfield received an 
academic education. He has been deputy 
assessor of the township, under D. J. 
Ryker, in 1880. In 1879 was deputy 
U. S. Marshal of Nebraska, under his uncle 
Wm. Dailey, who was marshal of that 
State. 

In 1880 he started in business in Rising 
Sun, Ind., and in October, 18S3, commenced 
business in Wirt — dry goods. He does a 
business of about $10,000. 

He was married to Miss Addie W. May- 
field, of Wirt, in 18S8. Mr. Mayfield is a 
prominent member of the I. 0. 0. F., and 
a successful business man. 



BURDITT MAYFIELD, farmer, is a na- 
tive of Jefferson county ; was born Aug. 16, 
1835; is the son of Joshua Mayfield and 
Lucinda Mayfield, both of whom were na- 
tives of Kentucky; both are now dead. 
Joshua Mayfield was born in Kentucky, 
and removed to Indiana at an early date. 
His mother's father, Willis Ouseley, was a 
Revolutionary soldier. 

Mr. Burditt Mayfield was raised on a 
farm and received an ordinary education of 
the time of his youth. 

He was married, at the age of 23, No- 
vember 4, 1858, to Mehitabel Chambers, 
daughter of Isaac Chambers, of Jefferson 
county, who was a native of Kentucky, and 
a pioneer in the settlement of Indiana. He 
was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was 
at the battle of New Orleans. 



Mr. and Mrs. Mayfield were the parents 
of only one child, who was born August 25, 
1859, and died October 13, 1864. 

He was elected township assessor in 
1886, and now fills that office. He owns 
forty acres of good land, well improved. He 
is a good farmer and citizen. 



JAMES A. McGEE, farmer, Monroe tp. 
The grandfather of Mr. McGee, whose name 
was James McGee, was a native of Ireland, 
a linen weaver by trade. He emigrated from 
there about 1800, and came to the State of 
Virginia, where he resided until 1822, when 
he came to Jefferson county, Ind., where 
he died. 

His wife's name was Mary Hook, and she 
was also a native of the Emerald Isle. Mr. 
McGee was a soldier in the war of 1812-15, 
taking the Irishman's side of the fight where 
England is engaged — that is, against her. 
There is a relic of his service still preserved 
in the family of his descendant, James A. 
McGee, in the shape of a bayonet which 
the old Irishman carried during his service. 

In Virginia, in April, 1S02, was born to 
this pair a son, whom they called William. 
William came to Indiana, with his parents, 
and here raised a family. 

Mr. James McGee was one of their sons, 
and was born December 21, 1830, in Jef- 
ferson county, and has made it his home 
ever since. Mr. McGee was born on a farm, 
and has been a farmer all his life except 
while he was engaged in the army. He 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



247 



was educated in the schools of bis youth 
time. 

In 1855 he married Mehitabel Smith, and 
they had six children: John W., Albert T., 
George F., Jennie, Howard H., and Harry 
S. His wife died in 1871, and he married 
again in 1877, Sarah C. Mower, who was 
Henry Smith's widow, daughter of Jacob 
F. Mower, a native of Wirtemberg, Ger- 
many. From this union there are three 
children : Arthur B., Effie E. and Eobert B. 

Mr. McGee enlisted in Co. H, 40th Ind. 
Vols., in 1864, and was in the following bat- 
tles : Spring Hill, Columbia, Overton's Hill, 
Franklin and Nashville, besides a number 
of minor engagements. He was in the 
front rank at the battle of Franklin, Tenn.,' 
where the regiment went in with seven 
hundred men, and could muster only one 
hundred and fifty after coming out. 

After the war he settled down to the 
quiet life of the farmer. He owns 151 
acres of well-improved land in this county. 
He is a prominent member of the G. A. B., 
and is a prematurely old man by reason of 
his life in the army. 

He has never been an office seeker, but 
has held some positions of profit and trust 
with credit to himself. 



JOHN F. McKAY, farmer, Smyrna 
township, was born in the house in which 
he now resides, May 10, 1831. He was 
brought up on a farm, and attended the 
district schools of this county, and com- 



menced a course of study at College Hill 
College, but was prevented from complet- 
ing it by sickness. His parents were 
George and Elizabeth (Francis) McKay. 

His father was a native of Barren county, 
Ky., and came to Indiana with his parents 
in 1S16, and located at this place, where 
he continued to reside until his death in 
1835. His mother was a native of Ohio ; 
died May 12, 1849. 

His Grandfather Alexander McKay was 
a native of Scotland, and was married in 
Scotland, died in Jefferson county, Ind., 
1819. His Grandfather Francis came to 
the United States from Ireland, and settled 
first in Ohio ; afterward came to Jefferson 
county, and settled two miles east of 
Dupont, about 1820, where he continued 
to reside until his death in 1838. He was 
a weaver by trade, and worked some at his 
trade in this country. 

Mr. McKay owns .165 acres of land, 40 
timbered, one and one-half miles west of 
home place. He raises a number of cattle 
every year. Mr. McKay was never mar- 
ried. Mr. McKay is a man always ready 
to help in a good cause, and is well liked 
by all who know him. He has the esteem 
of his neighbors, as is shown by the fact 
that he was elected five years successively 
as constable from 1855 to 1859 inclusive ; 
afterward, in 1870, he was elected for 
two years, but resigned before his term 
expired. 

He was appointed County Commissioner 
tie last day of January, 1887, to fill a 
vacancy occasioned by the resignation of 
Wm. L. Cosby ; the term of office expires 



248 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



this month. Mr. McKay is one of our 
best citizens. 



WILLIAM E. McLELAND was born 
September 21, 1814, in Clark county, Ky., 
and on the 5th of November of the 
same year landed with his parents at 
Buchanan's Station, in the northeast 
corner of this county. This State was 
then a Territory. This would make Mr. 
McLeland one of the oldest living inhabi- 
tants of this county. He was brought up 
on a farm until he was seventeen years of 
age, when he engaged as a clerk in a coun- 
try store at Canaan, for Mr. Jobn Cain, 
with whom he remained for about one year. 
He then engaged as a clerk for Mr. E. S. 
Ayres, who was a merchant in Canaan. 

In 1837 he formed a partnership witb 
bis brother-in-law, Wesley McCoy, and 
bought Mr. Ayres out, and continued in 
business with Mr. McCoy for several years, 
when Mr. McCoy withdrew from the firm. 
Capt. McLeland then formed a 2)artnership 
with Mr. E. M. Salyers, and they continued 
in business until August, 1855, when they 
closed out their business and came to 
Madison, Mr. R. M. Salyers as Sheriff of 
the county and McLeland as his deputy. 
In 1847 Capt. McLeland was elected Jus- 
tice of the Peace at Canaan, and held the 
office for eight years. 

December 24, 1835, he was married to 
Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. E. L. 
Wilkinson, a Virginian, living at Canaan, 



and has seven living children, four boys 
and three girls : Matilda J., who married 
John D. Schmidlaijp, and lives in Denver, 
Col. ; Thomas E., living in Shoshone coun- 
ty, Idaho, County Auditor and Eecorder; 
Louisa E. died in 1843, two years old; 
Lizzie E. married Dr. W. A. McCoy, of 
Madison, Ind. Charles R., druggist ; 
Hosier Durbin, insurance and real estate 
business in Denver, Colorado, married Cara, 
daughter of A. S. Partridge, St. Louis, Mo. ; 
William 0., secretary F. and M. Insurance 
Co., Madison, Ind., married Eva S., daugh- 
ter of D. G. Phillips, Madison, Ind. ; Har- 
riet N., living at home. 

In 1S5S the subject of this sketch was 
elected Sheriff of Jefferson county, on the 
Eepublican ticket, and served until 1861. 
He then went into the army as Quarter- 
master of the Sixth Indiana Vol. Infantry. 
One year later was promoted to rank of 
Captain and Commissary of Subsistence, 
and served on the staff of Gen. R. W. 
Johnson, of the regular army. At the 
close of the war was appointed postmaster 
at Madison. After serving nearly two 
years was removed by President Johnson, 
because the Captain did not approve of his 
politics. Afterward was appointed Assist- 
ant Assessor of Internal Eevenue, and 
served five years, when the office was abol- 
ished. 

In 1871 he engaged in the manufacture 
of harness and saddles, in this city, and 
continued at it until his health gave way 
and he was not able to work any longer, 
when he sold out the business in 1880. 

Capt. McLeland has held the office and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



249 



commission of notary public for twenty-ono 
years, and still holds the commission. 

In 1884 he was taken with something 
like paralysis, from which he has not been 
able since to walk without crutches ; two 
years of the time was confined to his bed. 

Capt. McLeland has been a member of 
the M. E. Church since 1836, and was one 
of the trustees and a member of the build- 
ing committee of Trinity Church of this 
city. Has been a member of Monroe Lodge, 
I. 0. 0. F., since 1839, and a member of 
the Encampment for thirty years; also a 
member of the G. A. E. His parents were 
Robert and Esther C. (Benefiel) McLeland, 
both natives of Montgomery county, Ky. 

His father died in 1853, aged 62 years. 
His mother died in 1873, at the age of 78 
or 79 years. 



WILLIAM BOBBINS (deceased), the 
subject of this sketch, was born in Ken- 
tucky in 1784. He was brought up in 
perilous times from the wild beast of the 
country and the still wilder and more cruel 
men, the Indians. His first visit to Indiana 
Territory was in 1804, when he came to 
visit his mother's brother, John Ryker, who 
had a claim in Eagle Creek Valley, about 
three miles east of where Madison now 
is. 

He brought flour, sugar and coffee to bis 
uncle, luxuries which were not to be had ;it 
that time in the little settlement of Indiana. 
During this journey he saw deer, bears, 
panthers and various kinds of smaller 



game. He crossed the Ohio in a pirogue, 
his horse swimming by the side of the- 
boat. 

In 1809 Mr. Robbins settled perma- 
nently in Jefferson county, or what was 
afterward so named, making his home with 
his uncle, Mason Watts, who had built a 
log cabin two miles north of the present 
site of Canaan. The Indians were trouble- 
some about this time, and he enlisted as a 
ranger, and was several months in that ser- 
vice, headquarters at Buchanan's Station. 
The company in which he served was 
along Indian Kentucky creek, and was com- 
manded by James McCoy as captain ; this 
was in 1811-12. 

He was with Gen. W. H. Harrison when 
Detroit was taken, and at the battle of the 
River Thames where Teeumseh was killed ; 
but just who fired that fatal shot he could 
never tell. After the war he settled on a 
tract of land, two and one-half miles north 
of Canaan, which he bought of the Govern- 
ment. 

He was married on the 21st of January, 
1 8 1 6, to Elizabeth Wildman, who was the 
daughter of James Wildman, an early set- 
tler. He was married by Elder Jesse 
Yawter. 

Mr. Bobbins was a great hunter, and 
kept his family fully supplied with meat by 
the use of his gun. Game of all kinds 
was plenty in the forest at that time — beasts 
and birds. He Was in Madison at the first 
sale of lots by John Paul and Jonathan 
Lyons; the lots were about where the 
court-house now stands ; they sold for about 
fifteen dollars apiece. 



250 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



The result of his marriage was eight chil- 
dren, who lived to the age of maturity, viz : 
Eliza, Mary A., James, Aaron, Elizabeth, 
Martha, Eyker and John W. ; of these, two 
girls and four boys are now living (in 
1888). 

Mr. Wm. Robbins died in 1884, at his 
son Aaron's ; he had been blind for some 
years. He was a centenarian, and the last 
of his compeers to pass away to the Spirit 
Land. His wife died in 1856. He was a 
member of the Baptist Church for many 
years before his death. 

His youngest daughter, Martha, was 
married to James Christie, February 24, 
1846, and to them were born two children: 
John W. and Mary Elizabeth. Her hus- 
band died July 11, 1850, and she re-mar- 
ried in October, 1855, to William B. East, 
and to them were born five children, viz : 
George 0., Byker A., Minerva A., Fannie 
D. and Bailey S. Her second husband died 
January 26, 1865, and she married a third 
time, in 1884, to Enos Miles, who died in 
1SS7. She still lives in the village of 
Bryantsburgh. Her eldest son enlisted in 
the Tenth Reg. Ind. Vols., and served 
through the war. 

Mrs. Miles has raised her family almost 
unaided, and has been successful in giving 
all of them a good common-school education. 
She has lived to see all of her children grown 
and married. 

She has been an earnest member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church for some 
twenty years. 



JOHN G. MOORE, Recorder of Jeffer- 
son county, is a native of Madison, and 
was born October 9, 1834. His father was 
a Quaker ; he was an early settler in Madi- 
son, and married Miss Sarah A. Melntyre, 
daughter of John Melntyre, who came to 
Madison in 1S14, and was long a merchant 
of this city. Mr. Moore, the father, was a 
merchant here, but has been dead many 
years past. Mr. Moore, the subject of 
this sketch, was raised in Madison and ed- 
ucated at the school of Rev. Mr. Adams. 
In 1862, joined the Fourth Indiana Cav- 
alry as a private. On June 11, 1863, was 
promoted to first lieutenant in Commis- 
sary Department of the regiment ; he re- 
signed in Jane, 1864, on account of sick- 
ness. He was in many battles of the regi- 
ment. Prior to the war was engaged in 
the drug business in 1855 or '56, and re- 
sumed that business after the war. He was 
elected to the City Council from the First 
Ward twice, it being a strong Democratic 
ward, and he a Republican. Was subse- 
quently elected Commissioner of Water 
Works for the city; also served as City 
Clerk for one term. In November, 1886, 
was elected as Recorder of Jefferson coun- 
ty, and is now holding that office. He was 
married in 1861 to Miss Adelaide Hill, of 
Madison. He has no children, having lost 
five. His wife was a daughter of Dr. Par- 
ley Hill. He is a member of G. A. R. and 
I. 0. 0. F. He was a delegate from his 
district to the National Encampment G. A. 
R., at Columbus, Ohio, September, 1888. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



251 



ROBERT MORTON, farmer, Hanover 
township, is the son of John and Jeanette 
(Weir) Morton, who were natives of Scot- 
land, and came to the United States in 
1819. Mr. Morton was horn March 7, 
1845, in Switzerland county, Ind., and was 
brought up in that county until he was 
eleven years of age, when he came to 
Jefferson county with his parents, and 
located in Hanover township. He is un- 
married and lives on his farm of 89 acres 
on the Hanover and Lexington Pike, three 
miles west of Hanover. His farm is well 
improved and well stocked. He is a great 
admirer of blooded stock, and is trying to 
get the best for his farm. He also owns a 
farm of 86 acres, two miles south of this 
one. He is a member of Carmel (U. P.) 
Church, and is one of the trustees of that 
church. 



JOHN. W. MORTON is the son of John 
and Jeanette (Weir) Morton, who were na- 
tives of Scotland. 

He was born in Switzerland county, 
Ind., April 3, 1835. Was raised on a farm 
and has been a farmer all of his life. In 
1864 he joined the 137th Reg. Ind. Vols.; 
was a private, and was out until near the 
close of the war. 

He owns 93 acres of land. 

He was married in I860 to Miss Rhoda 
Swann, a native of Jefferson county. She 
died, and he married Miss Nancy Hastie, 
of Scott county. He has four children : 
James, Harry, Robert and Frank. 



His father located in Jefferson county, 
in 1857, and died the same year. His 
mother died in 1875. He has two brothers 
and five sisters. 



LOUIS MUTH, farmer, Monroe township, 
was a native of Bavaria, Germany ; came 
to this country with his father, John Muth, 
who settled in New Marion, Ripley county, 
Ind. Louis learned the tailor's trade, but 
preferred farming. 

He married, in 1S72, Miss Margaret 
Friedersdorff, of Jefferson county, a daugh- 
ter of Peter Friedersdorff, a native of Hesse- 
Darmstadt, Germany. 

The result of this marriage was four 
children: George, aged 17; William 
Bright, aged 14; Minnie, aged 11; and 
Maggie, aged 8. Mr. Muth belongs to the 
Lutheran Church, and is opposed to secret 
orders. 

He owns 150 acres of land, and is a good 
fanner and a contented man. 



COL. JNO. N. PATTON, farmer, Monroe 
township, was born in Belfast, Ireland, 
about the year 1750; emigrated to this 
country before the Revolution of 1776-83, 
and served in that war on the side of the 
Union Colonies. Among other children 
born to him was Matthew Patton ; to 
Matthew was born Hezekiah E. Patton, in 
Bunkum county, N. C, July 25, 1779. 



252 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Hezekiah migrated to Indiana in 1814, 
and settled in Jefferson county, at what is 
now the site of Mud Lick. Afterward 
bought Section 21, Township 10, Range 5 
North, where he resided until 1850; then 
removed to North Madison, where he died. 

Upon this farm, the subject of our 
sketch, Major (as he is usually called) John 
N. Patton, was born August 31, 1825. He 
was raised on a farm, got a good plain ed- 
ucation, the best afforded by the schools 
of the time. Taught school for a number 
of years, and was married on January 1, 
1850, to Eliza Woodfill, daughter of Dan- 
iel Woodfill, of Jefferson county. After 
marrying he settled down to life as a 
farmer on the farm upon which he was 
born, and still resides there. The result of 
this union was seven children, viz : Kitty, 
who married George W. Altizer, and moved 
to Kansas, and died there ; Sarah A., who 
died in infancy ; Mary married C. Kohl ; 
Julia A. married Frank M. McLelandell 
(now a widow, 1888) ; J. Morton married 
Annie Taylor ; Alice Cary married to John 
Spann, living at New Albany, Ind. ; Rob- 
ert E. died an infant ; Eliza H., now at 
home. 

June 16, 1862, he was mustered into 
United States service as first lieutenant of 
Co. C, Fifty-fourth Regiment Indiana Vol. 
Infantry, promoted to the rank of captain, 
served until August 25, 1863; then organ- 
ized company in First Independent Battal- 
ion Infantry, and was made Major ; at the 
close of service, brevetted Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel for services rendered. After close of 



the war settled down again to the life of 
the farm ; and he has since lived on his 
farm of 100 acres of land in Monroe town- 
ship, Jefferson county. Is a member of 
the G. A. R., John A. Hendricks Post, No. 
107. His father's mother was Kate McCol- 
lough, who was a sister to Ben McCol- 
lough, the Confederate General, and daugh- 
ter of Elijah McCollough, whose father set- 
tled in the mountains of Virginia, nearthe 
North Carolina line, in the last century, 
and came from the Highlands of Scotland. 
The mother of Col. Patton was Anna Wil- 
son, daughter of Nathaniel Wilson, who 
came to this county as early as 1809; 
Ohioans by birth, they went to Kentucky, 
then Indiana. 

Margaret Patton, an aunt of Col. Pat- 
ton, organized the first Sunday-school in 
Jefferson county ; all who were her pupils, 
except James Baxter, now in Oregon, are 
dead. 

Hezekiah E. Patton, the father of the 
subject of our sketch, was a soldier in the 
War of 1812 ; was an advocate for freedom 
and free speech, he, with Captain Isaac 
Chambers and James Baxter, having 
held a mob of some sixty persons at 
bay, while a free-soil abolitionist delivered 
a lecture in the log school-house in the 
year 1836. The mob were armed and 
equipped with all things necessary to tar- 
and-feather and ride the speaker on a rail, 
but so soon as they saw the three old stal- 
wart soldiers on picket, armed with their 
old squirrel rifles and their hunting knives 
in their belts, they considered discretion 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



253 



the better part of valor, and retired to the 
woods and held a picnic, and our subject, 
the son, is a firm believer in the theory 
That Freedom's battle once begun, 
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son. 
He died in July, 1856. 



DR. BENJAMIN A. PENN was born in 
Shelby township, Jefferson county, July 
22, 1824. He was the son of Ephraim and 
Mary Ann (Warfield) Perm. 

His father was a native of Pennsylvania 
and a descendant of William Penn, the 
founder of that State. 

Benjamin Penn, grandfather of Dr. Penn, 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. 
The father of Dr. Penn was born in 1784, 
and came to Kentucky about the year 1800 ; 
he first stopped at Maysville a short time, 
and removed from there to Frankfort, where 
he located. 

He bought or entered three different 
tracts of land, which he lost by priority of 
title in other names. He married in Ken- 
tucky, and removed to Indiana about the 
year 1816, so that part of his children 
were horn in Kentucky and the younger 
part in Indiana. 

He settled in Shelby township, about two 
miles west of where the town of Canaan 
now is, and built the first brick house in 
that township. 

Dr. Penn was born on this farrn, and 
spent his life here until his thirteenth year. 
He attended school, first going to John 



Gillespie, one of the pioneer teachers of 
the county. Among other teachers to whom 
he went were Thomas Hicklin, Win. H. 
Phillipps, and Henry Mavity, who all 
became prominent men. The school-house 
was built by his father and two or three 
other settlers. 

Dr. Penn studied in these schools, besides 
the elementary branches, Latin, Chemistry 
and Natural Philosophy. At the age of 
sixteen he spent one year in the office of 
Dr. Thomas Watson, of Shelby county, 
Ky., in the study of medicine. Then he 
returned home and read in the office of Dr. 
Howard Watts, of Madison, for two years. 
Then he read the library of Dr. Hyel Morri- 
son, also of Madison. About this time he 
went to Lewis county, Ky., and read and 
practiced one year with Dr. T. 0. Mershon. 
Then he put up his shingle independently, 
or on his own hook, Sept. 20, 1846, at 
Oldtown, Ky., and practiced for three years, 
and then removed to a point near Camden, 
Carroll county, Ind. In 1853 he removed 
to Miami, and remained there until February, 
1857, from whence he removed to Jefferson 
county, Ind., where he has since resided, 
first at Canaan for two years, and since 
then at Bryantsburgh. 

After coming to this county he attended 
lectures at Cincinnati, and graduated in the 
class of 1864-65. 

On the 4th of November, 1856, at Miami, 
he was married to Miss Rebecca E. Guest, 
and they have five children: Luke, born 
July 23, 1S57; Mary, June 8, 1860; Ben 
F., April 5, 1866; John S., September 10, 
1867, and Silas, September 22, 1872. The 



254 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



eldest son is a practicing physician in 
Aurora, Ind. ; he read medicine with his 
father and attended lectures at the Louis- 
ville School of Medicine. Mary married 
J. G. Butt, of Illinois, and has three sons. 
Ben F. is traveling in Montana ; John is 
in Janesville, Wis., attending a school of 
telegraphy, and Silas is still at home with 
his parents. 

Dr. Penn's parents hoth died in the 73d 
year of their age, his father in 1850 and 
his mother in 18G0. 

At the age of 17 Dr. Penn joined the 
Baptist Church, but left that church at 
Miami, Ind., because there was no Baptist 
church there, and united with the Chris- 
tian Church ; he then withdrew from that 
church on account of peace principles and 
established a church called the Church of the 
Prince of Peace ; but owing to a difficulty in 
procuring a room for meeting, it was dis- 
continued, and he became a member of the 
Hebron Baptist Church, and has remained 
a member in that church to the present. 

Dr. Penn owns and resides on a very nice 
little farm of fifty acres of good land. 

Since his graduation at Miami Medical 
College he has studied the German and 
Greek languages, so as to speak, read and 
write the German and to read and teach 
the Greek. 

Dr. Penn was ordained a minister of the 
Christian Church, and has devoted a large 
portion of time, study and hard service in 
teaching and preaching the pure and un- 
adulterated word of God as given to the 
world by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, 
and His Apostles, and in opposition to 



human creeds, human churches and war 
under all shapes and forms. 



SQUIRE PHILLIPS, farmer, Shelby 
township, was born in Jefferson county, in 
1832. He never went to school more than 
three months in his life. About the time 
that boys are in school now, he was busy 
as a hand at log rolling, cabin building, 
and other work. He has been a farmer all 
of his life, and is a very good one, as the 
farm he now lives on, of 172^ acres, testi- 
fies by producing more now than when he 
first settled on it. 

He is the son of Presby and Sarah (Hall) 
Phillips. His father was born in Ohio, of 
Virginia parents, and was one of the first 
settlers of Jefferson county, Ind. His 
mother was the daughter of William Hall, 
who was a soldier at Valley Forge. 

At the time Mr. Phillips was a boy the 
old wooden mould board plough was in use, 
and the farmers raised the flax from which 
clothing was made for the family. 

He was married in 1S57 to Mary E. Car- 
dinal, daughter of John Cardinal, native of 
England. They have four living children : 
Charles W., John, Samantha J. and 
Susan. Charles W. is practicing medicine 
in Scipio, is a graduate of Ohio Medical 
College ; first studied medicine with Dr. S. 
B. Lewis, of Canaan. John is farming in 
Jefferson county, and Susan is at home. 
Mr. Phillips has never sought office, and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



255 



belongs to no secret order, and is a good 
citizen in every sense of the word. He is 
a Republican in politics. 



JOHN J. PILES, farmer, Monroe town- 
ship, was born Nov. 23, 1S23, in Kentucky, 
and is the son of William Piles, a native of 
Henry county, Ky. His father, Conericus 
Piles, a native of Virginia, was one of the 
famous "hunters of Kentucky" of Daniel 
Boone's days, and was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier. 

William Piles settled in Switzerland 
county, Ind., as early as 1825 or '2G, where 
he lived for many years. There he married 
Elizabeth Haydon, who was the daughter of 
William Haydon, a native of Virginia, who 
removed to Kentucky at an early time of 
his life and lived there a great many years. 
Of this family, Ben, Jackson, Thomas and 
Bland Haydon were soldiers in the War 
of 1S12-15. 

Mr. John J. Piles was a son of these par- 
ents, and was raised on a farm. In 1846 
be was married to Miss Cynthia A. Ray- 
burn, daughter of R. Raybum, a native of 
Kentucky, of Irish ancestry. Her mother, 
Nancy Rydeu, was a native of Kentucky. 

Mr. Piles and wife have never had any 
children of their own, but have furnished 
homes for five of other parents, namely : 
Chas. U. Kenen, Martin L. Rayburn, Nancy 
J. Piles, and her two daughters, Laura B. 
and Elizabeth. Mr. Piles went at the first 
call for troops in the Rebellion, as a pri- 



vate in Co. D, Thirty-seventh Regiment, 
Indiana Volunteers, and was in all the 
battles of his regiment, viz: Stone River, 
Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Mission 
Ridge, etc. The regiment was with Sher- 
man in his famous "March to the Sea." 
Served three years, and came back to farm- 
er's life, settling in Jefferson county, Mon- 
roe township. He is a member of the G. 
A. R. and is a good citizen. 



JOHN F. POMMEREHN was born in 
Germany, March 20, 1839. 

His father's name was Frederick Pom- 
merehn. Both of them came to the United 
States in 1850, on a sailing vessel, being 
seven weeks on the passage, arrived in 
October. His father died in 1882. 

John F. Pommerehn settled in Jefferson 
county. His education was received in Ger- 
many. He is a farmer and has worked at 
milling. 

He was married in 1868, to Miss Nancy 
Taylor, daughter of James Taylor, a native 
of Scotland. They have nine children: 
William, Jane, Anna, James, John, Mary, 
Thomas, Ellen and Cahancy. 

He owns 142£ acres of well- improved 
land in Jefferson county, and has a saw- 
mill on his farm. 

Mr. Pommerehn has succeeded in milk- 
ing a good living, and has accumulated 
some property besides. 

All of his children are living at borne 
with their parents. 



256 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Mr. Ponimerehn is a member of the 
Masonic Order, and a well respected citizen. 



JAMES V. RAWLINGS, M. D., Wirt, 
Jefferson county, is a native of Jefferson 
county, and was born on a farm in Lan- 
caster township, January 3, 1859. His 
parents are James E. and Margaret (Wal- 
ker) Eawlings, natives of Jefferson county, 
Ind., and of England. His grandfather 
Vincent Eawlings was a native of Kentucky, 
and was one of the early settlers of Clark 
county, Ind., and afterward came to this 
county ; was a tanner by trade, but became 
a farmer in Lancaster township, where he 
lived to a good old age. 

The father of Dr. Eawlings lives in Lan- 
caster township, on a farm. Dr. Eawlings 
was reared on a farm, and was educated at 
the college in Danville, Ind. He studied 
medicine with Dr. J. W. Flanders, of Du- 
pont, Ind., and graduated in the spring of 
1SS7, at the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, of Baltimore, Md. He began the 
practice of medicine at Wirt, has a large 
practice thus far, and a fine promise for 
future work. 



EAEL T. EECTOE was born in Lancas- 
ter township, Jefferson county, January 
12, 1842. Daniel Eector, the great-grand- 
father of E. T. Rector, was the founder of 



the Eector family in Jefferson county ; was 
a native of Virginia, and came to Jefferson 
county as early as 1807. Daniel was in 
the Eanger service in the War of 1812-15, 
and was killed at a muster near Kent, Jef- 
ferson county, Ind. Daniel Eector, son of 
Hezekiah, was the father of the subject of 
our sketch ; was born and raised in Lancaster 
township, Jefferson county, Ind. He mar- 
ried Jane C. Farris, daughter of Leonard 
Farris, a native of New York. They had 
ten children, of whom Earl T. Eector was 
the eldest. Born and reared on a farm, was 
educated in the common schools of the 
county. Lived on the farm and learned 
the plasterer's trade. At the call of Presi- 
dent Lincoln for troops, he enlisted in Co. 
K, Twenty-second Eeg. Ind. Vols., Col. 
Jeff. C. Davis. He was with his regiment 
in all of the battles in which the regiment 
was engaged ; the principal ones were Pea 
Eidge,Ark., Corinth, Miss., and Perrysville, 
Ky., Stone Eiver, Chickamauga, Mission 
Eidge and others. He was one of the men 
of his company who came out of all the 
battles unhurt. During his last months of 
service he was in the Pioneer Corps. 
He came home in 1864, and returned and 
served until 1865, when he was discharged 
at close of war. On one occasion, while 
following Price, he was detailed as forager 
for provisions, and during the raid he lost 
all of his clothing but boots and shirt ; at a 
store he found a pair of linen pants, a cut- 
away coat and a stove pipe hat, all of 
which he appropriated as contraband of 
war; and in this costume fought the Jolm- 
ies for some time during the spring of 1862. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



257 



He came home and settled down to a farm 
life, taking unto himself Miss Irene Craft, 
as a wife, in 1867. She was the daughter 
of John B. Craft, a native of New York. 

They have three children : John B., Dan- 
iel P. and Jennie, who are all at home. 

Mr. Bector is a member of the I. 0. 0. F. 
and is commander of John A. Hendricks 
Post, G. A. B. ; was a Freemason. He 
spent the four best years of his life in the 
army. He is a good citizen and farmer. 

Hezekiah Bector, grandfather of Earl T., 
was a captain of a company in our Colo- 
nial war, and he was shot by one of the 
company's sentinels who refused to be re- 
leased from duty. 



DR. JOHN H. BEYNOLDS was a son of 
Simeon L. and Charity (Tomlinson) Bey- 
nolds, and was born in Jefferson county, 
Ind., July 17, 1820. His parents were na- 
tives of Connecticut and of Irish and Eng- 
lish origin. 

His father settled in Madison, Ind., in 
1815, and was a carpenter by trade. For 
thirteen years in early life he was a 
mariner on the ocean. In 1820 he went 
from Madison to a farm in Jefferson coun- 
ty, and died in 1847. 

Dr. Beynolds was raised on the farm, 
one of thirteen children, educated in the 
ordinary schools, afterward in a select 
school. At the age of 24 years he began 
the study of medicine under Dr. Parley 
Hill, of New York (who died in Madison, 



Ind.), and graduated from the University of 
St. Louis in 1849. He began the practice 
of medicine in 1844, where he now is, near 
Wirt, and has continuously practiced 
medicine since. 

He was married to Miss Maria Hall, of 
Jefferson county, daughter of Bobert M. 
Hall, of Kentucky, but formerly of North 
Carolina, and has six living children : Lou, 
wife of D. Morris, of Kentucky ; Sallie C, 
wife of L. C. Holmes, a Kentucky mer- 
chant; Allie, wife of Louis Levey, pub- 
lisher, Indianapolis ; Blanche, wife of John 
Boss, teller in the First National Bank of 
Madison; Geo. E., M. D.,at Kent, Jefferson 
county, graduate of Indiana Medical Col- 
lege, and Scott H., M. D., at Scipio, Ind., 
graduate of Miami Medical College, Cin- 
cinnati, 0. Dr. Beynolds owns 85 acres of 
land. He is a fine physician, a good citi- 
zen, honored of his neighbors and the pub- 
lic generally. 



JOSEPH T. BEYNOLDS, farmer, Lan- 
caster township, is a native of Lancaster 
township, Jefferson county ; was bom Feb. 
13, 1846, on a farm, and reared on a farm. 
He attended the common and high schools 
of the county. 

He was married in 1864 to Miss Harriet 

E. Bonnell, a native of Ohio, but a resident 
of this county at the time of the marriage. 
They have four living children, three boys 
and one girl : George W., Buth C, Andrew 

F. and William L. 

Mr. Beynolds was elected Justice of the 



258 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Peace in this township, in 1886, on the 
Republican ticket. He lives on a farm of 
160 acres of good land, which is in a fine 
state of cultivation, lying at the edge of 
Dupont. His parents were William L. 
and Delilah (Johnson) Reynolds ; mother a 
native of Kentucky ; father a native of Ver- 
mont, fie came to Indiana and located at 
Madison in 1813 ; when he first came there 
were only log cabins in the town. 

He drove the first dray in Madison. He 
entered one-half of the farm where his son 
now resides. He died in 1876, at the age 
of 73. His widow died in May, 1882. 



JOHN RICHERT, firm of Fischer & 
Richert, carriage and wagon manufac- 
turers, 315 East Main street, opposite 
Court House. 

John Richert was born on the 16th day 
of July, 1835, in Baden, South Germany. 
Came to the United States in 1857, 
and located in Johnstown, Pa., where he 
remained about twenty-one months, work- 
ing in a rolling mill ; but, with the desire to 
better his condition, he left Pennsylvania 
in 1859, and came to Madison, Ind. Here 
he applied himself to the trade of carriage 
and wagon making, and worked at it for 
about two years with Mr. J. B. Miller. At 
the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, 
he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he re- 
mained about thirteen months working on 
Government wagons ; while there he en- 
listed to help build the pontoon bridge, 



that was constructed with coal barges over 
the Ohio river, from Cincinnati to Coving- 
ton, to expedite military forces and sup- 
plies. Soon after his return to Madison on 
board the boat, it was necessary for the 
boat officials to arm the passengers with 
muskets to fight their way, should they 
be attacked by Confederates; they how- 
ever reached Madison unmolested and in 
safety. Here he began work to lay the 
foundation for his present business. He 
enlisted with the Home Guards, and during 
the exciting period when Gen. Morgan was 
expected to cross the Ohio river and make 
a raid on Madison, he was one of the troops 
who stood guard on the river front. 

He joined partnership with Mr. V. 
Fischer, and started in the manufacture of 
wagons upon a small scale. By doing good 
work and giving their business close atten- 
tion they have established a large and 
growing business. They commenced their 
business where they now are, in an old two 7 
story frame building, but having enlarged 
their shops as their business increased, in 
the year 1 874 they built the large two-story 
brick warerooms at present occupied by 
them, and commenced the manufacture of 
carriages also. They employ from eighteen 
to twenty skilled workmen. 

Mr. Richert is a member of the German 
Lutheran Church, and for many years was 
one of the presiding elders ; many of the 
improvements made are due to his good 
judgment, of which the congregation can 
be proud. He is also a member of the 
I. 0. 0. F. He was married in 1865 to 
Miss Elisabeth Keller, of Tell City, Ind.; 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



259 



born in the village of Ruedlinzen, Canton 
Sbaffbausen, Switzerland. Eigbt children 
were born to them, sis girls and two boys. 
Their names are — Anna, Elisabeth, Cath- 
arine, Magdalene, George, Caroline, Julia 
and Lemuel. Mr. Richert is a good citizen ; 
upright and honest in his business, his 
success is deserved, and his integrity has 
won him the esteem of his friends and the 
respect of all who know him. He is a good 
example of what may be attained in the 
way of competency by any who will employ 
the same means, honesty and perseverance. 



JOHN R. RITCHIE, farmer, Creswell 
P. 0., Smyrna township, Jefferson county, 
Ind., is a native of Smyrna township, and 
was born May 27, 1832; was raised on a 
farm ; attended the common schools of the 
county, and went to Hanover College for 
one year. After leaving school he taught 
a district school in this county for three 
sessions. At that time teachers were 
elected by vote. In 1S56, October 23, Mr. 
Ritchie was married to Miss Mary A. Dean, 
of this county, daughter of John Dean, a 
native of New York. He has three living 
children, two girls and one boy: Walter, 
Lucy and Bertha. Walter married Miss 
Sarah A. Amsden, of this county ; Lucy 
and Bertha are both living at home. Mr. 
Ritchie is a member of the Grange Ins. Co., 
and helped to organize the company. He 
has a farm of 247 acres of good land, well 
improved. H^ i s now making a specialty 



of thoroughbred Jersey cattle. He started 
bis herd with "Miss Fannie," of well-known 
herd of Mr. John B. Poyntz, of Maysville, 
Ky., and has now a very fine herd, which 
he is always pleased to show to anyone. 
Mr. Ritchie was among the first who run a 
steam thresher in Jefferson county, and was 
the first to take a steam thresher on the hill 
in Trimble county, Ky. His parents were 
John and Sophia (Branham) Ritchie. John 
Ritchie was born in Ohio in the year 1807, 
and came to Jefferson county, with his par- 
ents, when only two years old, and lived in 
this county till his death in 1877, July 9. In 

1829 he was married, and in the spring of 

1830 located on Harbert's creek, near the 
present postoffice of Creswell, Smyrna town- 
ship, where he and Robert Branham built 
a grist and saw-mill that was run by water ; 
this was one of the first water-mills in the 
township. They continued to run this mill 
for a few years, when they put in a steam- 
engine, making the first steam • grist and 
saw-mill in the township. The same engine 
is still at work in the saw-mill to this day, 
having used up four boilers. At the time 
of starting the steam mill, Mr. Ritchie 
formed a partnership with Mr. Smiley Sam- 
ple, the firm name being Ritchie & Sample, 
for running the mill and a store. This firm 
continued about two years, when Ritchie 
bought out Sample's interest in the whole 
concern, and continued in the milling busi- 
ness till he died. Mr. Ritchie was 69 years 
old at the time of his death, at which time 
he owned 500 acres of land, and some 
houses and lots in Madison, making him 
worth in all about $ 30,000. JJe was the 



260 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



largest tax-payer iu the township. He was 
a good manager. He was one of the first 
members of Smyrna Presbyterian Church, 
and was a deacon in the church for many 
years, and gave liberally to the church, and 
was foremost in assisting all deserving per- 
sons and enterprises. He gave $500 to 
Hanover College. He was the largest stock- 
holder in the Smyrna and Graham Turn- 
pike Road. 



HIRAM F. ROBBINS, farmer, Monroe 
township, was born in Worcester county, 
Mass. His parents were Rufus Robbins 
and Harriet Farnham, both natives of Mass- 
achusetts. His father died when he was 
eight years old. He lived a few years with 
a man named Smith, who was a man of 
wealth and influence ; while here he was 
educated in business and chose a guardian, 
Daniel Fisk. He began to learn the trade 
of a carpenter with a man named Wilson, 
in Southbridge, and served as an appren- 
tice for three years and saved all his money. 
He then went to work at farming. He 
attended the manual labor school at Worster, 
it being so constituted that boys could 
work their way to education. While here 
he worked at stone masonry. He then 
went to work at his trade and built a house 
for a cotton manufacturer. 

After that he started to New Orleans to 
work at his trade of carpenter, but at Steu- 
benville, 0., he met with a Mr. Cook, who 
was a contractor, and was employed by 



him. He was made the superintendent of 
the work by Cook. He came to Madison, 
Ind., Dec. 13, 1838, on the old steamboat 
"Columbia." 

Here he was employed by the civil en- 
gineers of the railroad which was being con- 
structed at that time. Nest he began to 
work at house building ; he worked on the 
First Presbyterian Church on Main street 
(this church stood on the south side of 
Main street and the west side of the alley), 
and on many other houses well known to 
old citizens. 

In 18-11 he married Miss Amanda Cos- 

w 

by, the daughter of Archibel Cosby, a na- 
tive of Kentucky. From this marriage 
came five children: Charles, Benjamin, 
William H., Edward and Amanda Eliza. 
William H. died when five years old and 
Amanda Eliza while an infant. Mrs. Rob- 
bins died September 20, 1856, aged thirty- 
one years one month and eighteen days. 
In 1860 he was married a second time 
to Miss Ella Crittenden, of Columbus, Ind. 
There were two children born of this mar- 
riage, Willie C. and Albert B. Willie is 
married to Miss Alice Hilbert and lives in 
Monroe township. Albert B. is unmarried 
and lives in Illinois. Mr. Robbins was 
contractor for and built more houses in 
Madison than any other man who worked 
in the city. From 1810 to 1S52 he car- 
ried on a shop as builder and contractor. 
In 1852 he built a furniture manufactory, 
the second built in the State. He operated 
this for twenty-eight years, shipping furni- 
ture all over the country. In 1877 he 
bought a farm in Monroe township and set- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



261 



tied down on it. There are 133 acres of it. 
His wife died here. 

Mr. Robbins has been an Odd Fellow 
and is a member of the Christian Church. 



EDWARD ROBERTS, merchant, Bry- 
antsburgh, was born in Switzerland county, 
Ind., in 1839. His father, John S. Roberts, 
was an early settler of that county, and was 
a farmer. His mother was Jane Salyers, 
daughter of John B. Salyers, and grand- 
daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. 
The family were from Virginia. Nathan 
Roberts, grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch, a native of Maryland, settled at a 
point opposite to the present city of Cin- 
cinnati before there was any town there. 
He entered a tract of land, but afterward 
lost it because of leaving it. 

Mr. Edward Roberts was raised upon a 
farm ; at the age of twenty-two he enlisted 
in the 76th Reg. Ind. Vols., Co. D, and 
served three months. He enlisted a second 
time in Co. D, 137th Ind. Vols., in which 
he remained till the end of the war. He 
was in all of the battles of his regiments, 
and was a good soldier. He saw service 
at Atlanta and other points of the same 
campaign. 

After the war he came home and worked 
at house-carpentering for some twenty 
years. He is now engaged in a general 
merchandise business at Bryantsburgh, Jef- 
ferson county. He also has the postSffice 



at that place. He was trustee of Shelby 
township for one term. In 1873 he was 
married to Miss Mary J. Mitchell, of Jeffer- 
son county ; no issue. Mr. Roberts is an 
energetic, honest business man, and a good 
citizen.. 



DAN. A. ROBERTS, farmer, Smyrna 
township, was the son of Dan. and Ann 
(Walker) Roberts, both of whom were 
born and raised in Lancastershire, Eng- 
land. They came to the United States 
about 1844, and located in Jefferson coun- 
ty, Ind. 

His father taught school in this county, 
and bought a farm, and remained here for 
about two years, when he went to Cincin- 
nati, Ohio ; remained there until 1848, when 
he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he 
died of cholera in 1849. His mother is 
still living on her farm in this county, aged 
07 years. 

Dan. A. Roberts was born in Hamilton 
county, Ohio, January 15, 1840, removed 
to Louisville, Ky., with his parents, in 
1848, and remained there until 185S, when 
he removed with his mother to Jefferson 
county, Ind., where he has resided ever 
since. 

He attended school in Louisville, and in 
Smyrna township. In 1809 he was mar- 
ried to Miss Periutha E. Robinson, the 
daughter of John Robinson, who was a 
native of Ohio, but came to Indiana in 
1847, and located on a farm in Graham 



2<>2 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



township, where he remained until his 
death in 1855. 

Mr. Roberts has five children, three boys 
and two girls: Edgar A., Claude A., Clar- 
ence J., Esma A. and Myrtle E. Mr. Rob- 
erts owns three farms, containing about 
300 acres of good land, located in the west- 
ern part of Smyrna township. He raises 
a great deal of stock. 

In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Co. 
E, 137th Regiment Indiana Infantry, 
and in the winter of 1864 enlisted in Co. 
H, 145th Regiment Indiana Infantry, 
and was mustered out at Macon, Georgia, 
January 21, 1866. His regiment was en- 
gaged in guard duty the most of the time. 

He has been twice elected to the office 
of Trustee of Smyrna township. He is the 
only Republican ever elected to that office 
in Smyrna township. 



LEANDERM. ROBINSON, firm of D. C. 
Robinson & Co., saw-mill and lumber busi- 
ness. He is the son of Jesse and Lydia 
C. (Miles) Robinson, natives of Ohio, both 
living, and was born December 8, 1844, in 
Hamilton county, Ohio. In 1852 his 
parents removed to Madison, Ind., where 
they still live. He attended the city 
schools. In 1861 he engaged with Mr. P. 
W. Ramsey to learn the watch and silver- 
smith trade, and worked at this until 1865, 
when he quit on account of his health. The 
same year he took a position as book- 



keeper at the ship-yard here at Madison, 
and remained three or four years. In 
1869 he formed a partnership with D. C. 
Robinson, and engaged in his present 
business. They have been very successful 
and have built up a large business in this 
line, having a large lumber yard at the 
saw-mill, Front and Vernon streets, and 
another at the corner of Main and Vernon. 
They employ about fifteen men. Mr. 
Robinson was married in 1868 to Miss 
Mary F., daughter of John Crawford, de- 
ceased, of Madison, Ind. Has four children : 
Mary F., Leander M., Jr., Clara M. and 
Jessie C. 

He is a member of the Christian Church ; 
an I. 0. 0. F., member of the Madison 
Lodge, No. 72. He has been secretary of 
Building Association No. 8, for the last 
fourteen years. He was elected as mem- 
ber of the City Council from his ward (the 
6th), first in 1880, then in 1884, and again 
in 1886. He is a Republican, and the 
ward is strongly Democratic. 



JAMES ROBINSON (deceased) was born 
in 1822, in Alleghany county, Pa. His 
father was Andrew Robinson, a native of 
the same State, of Irish descent. His 
mother's maiden name was Stilly. He was 
raised on a farm and had a common-school 
education. 

In 1845 he married Miss Mary Barnum, 
of Jefferson county, Ind., where he resided 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



263 



during the rest of his life. He died in 1858. 
He was a good citizen. 

By this marriage there were six children, 
viz : John, Levi B., Elizabeth 0., George 
L., James F. and Mary F. Of these, two 
live in Jefferson county and the rest in 
Kansas. Capt. Daniel Barnum, the father 
of Mrs. Robinson, was a man of consider- 
able note. He was born in the State of 
New York, in 1786. He was a soldier in 
the War of 1812-15. 

He came to Indiana in 1823 and settled 
in Lancaster township — now Monroe — in 
Jefferson county, where he lived a good, 
orderly citizen for many years. He came 
down the Ohio river on a raft of lumber, 
starting from the region of Olean, N. Y., on 
the Alleghany river. With this lumber he 
erected the house and bam on his farm. 
In 1837 he removed to Missouri and re- 
mained some years, returning again to In- 
diana ; later he went to Oregon, and after 
some ten years returned again to Jefferson 
county, Ind., where he died. 

He was twice married, and raised eight 
children : Samuel, Elizabeth, Eli, Sylvina, 
Thomas, Noah, Mary and Emmeline, all 
of whom are still living but Thomas, Noah 
and Samuel. He was one of the early Dem- 
ocratic Abolitionists of early times in this 
county, and was a worker on the Under- 
ground Railroad, between slavery on the 
south and Canada on the north ; the trains 
ran principally in the night time and on 
foot. 



JOHN T. ROYCE (deceased). Mr. Royce 
was born near Rochester, N. Y., in the 
year 1817. His father, Sardius Royce, 
and two brothers came from Pittsburgh, 
with their families, on a raft. Sardius and 
family stopped at Madison ; the other 
brothers continued their journey, one of 
them stopping at or near New Albany, 
the other one went farther down the river. 
Madison was at this time almost an unbro- 
ken forest. There was scarcely any work 
to be had, so the subject of our sketch left 
his father's settlement — near the site of 
of the old chain mill at Clifty Hollow — and 
went some twelve miles, near the present vil- 
lage of Brooksburgh, to work at chopping 
cordwood for Mr. Noah Brooks. He was 
married in 1S37 to Jennette Brooks, daugh- 
ter and eldest child of Noah Brooks. He 
has lived in Jefferson county pretty nearly 
all his life. For four or five years he lived 
in Ripley and Decatur counties. In Rip- 
ley he built a saw-mill (about the first in 
the county), and sawed the plank to make 
the plank road from Madison to Greens- 
burg. Along this plank road was the first 
telegraph line that was put up in the State, 
and he put up the poles along the route. 
Some time after this he bought a farm in 
Madison township, Jefferson county, where 
he lived to raise most of his family, which 
consisted of eleven sons and two daugh- 
ters. 

Three of his sons died when young ; the 
others lived to maturity. From him the 



264 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Royce family of Jefferson and Scott coun- 
ties was descended. One of the daughters 
lives in Louisville ; two of the sons in Min- 
nesota, one in Washington Territory. In 
about 1881, he removed to Minnesota, 
where he died September 9, 1883. He 
was a member of the M. E. Church, and 
had been from boyhood. 



JARED D. RYKER, a representative of 
one of the earliest and first families of Jef- 
ferson county, and also one of the most 
prominent and successful farmers of the 
county, was born January 8, 1821, at the 
old Ryker homestead, Jefferson county, 
Ind. His parents were John G. and Sarah 
Ryker (nee Jones), who were respectively 
born in Shelby and Boone counties, Ky. 
John G. Ryker was born August 9, 1793, 
and removed with his father, before he be- 
came of age, to Jefferson county. His 
father was Geradus Ryker, a native of the 
State of New Jersey, born in 1769, who 
emigrated in the latter part of the last 
century to Shelby county, Ky., and subse- 
quently to Jefferson county, Ind., in about 
1811. 

He brought with him, to Indiana, six sons 
and three daughters : His eldest son, 
Samuel, born in Shelby county, 1799; 
John G., Jacob S., Jared, Abram and 
William C, born respectively 1793, 1796, 
1799, 1804, 1807; Polly S., 1S09; Peter 
V., 1816; Leah, 1818. 



John G. Ryker was a soldier in the War 
of 1812, and was known as one of the 
"Rangers," and for his meritorious services 
drew a pension from the Government until 
the day of his death, in 1875. Jared D.'s 
maternal grandfather, David Jones, a 
Revolutionary soldier, emigrated from Ken- 
tucky and settled in an early day within 
two miles of what is now the village of 
Canaan. 

His mother, Sarah Jones Ryker, was 
born in Kentucky, in 1798. 

He has three times been married ; first 
in 1841, to Miss Eliza, granddaughter of 
Col. John Ryker, and of this union three 
children survive — Sarah, Jane and Mary 
Ann. His second wife was Miss Mary 
Howard, a native of Jefferson county, and 
two children of this union are also living — 
John and Permelius. His present wife, a 
very estimable and clever lady, was Miss 
Anna Harris, who is still living, and a 
native of England ; this marriage occurred 
in 1857. The children by this marriage 
are Benjamin H., Walter H., Thaddeus H, 
Herbert H., Jared H. and Edgar H. 

Mr. Ryker has a farm of 361 acres of 
well-improved land, and is nearly the sole 
owner of the Madison, Ryker's Ridge and 
Wolf Run Turnpike. He has long been one 
of the leading members of the Ryker's 
Ridge Baptist Church, and is one of its 
deacons. While Mr. Ryker did not receive 
any of the advantages of a collegiate edu- 
cation, he is nevertheless a man of fine 
sense, liberal in his views as to both 
politics and religion, and affable and cour- 
teous in his dealings with his fellow-men. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



2G3 



JOHN G. SALISBUEY, farmer, Monroe 
township. His grandfather, James Salis- 
bury, was a native of Vermont, of English 
descent. John C. Salisbury, son of James, 
was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, in the 
year 1805. He emigrated in early times to 
Kentucky, and came to Madison, Ind., in 
1832. In 1836 he came to Monroe town- 
ship, where he permanently settled down 
and lived the balance of his life. He was 
a pioneer school-teacher, and taught school 
in Kentucky, Madison, and here, afterward, 
became a farmer. He was one of the old 
free-soilers, and a great advocate of free 
speech. He married in Jefferson county, 
Ind., Miss Leah Ryker, daughter of John 
Ryker, one of the earliest settlers of this 
county. They had nine children. The 
eldest son, James T., was a member of Co. 
H, Tenth Indiana Cavalry, and died in 
Black Swamp, near Vicksburg. 

John G. Salisbury, who furnishes this 
sketch, was born December 4, 1842, in 
Monroe township ; was reared on a farm, 
educated in the common schools, and now 
lives upon — and owns — the farm upon 
which he was born. June 9, 1869, he was 
married to Miss Lauretta Elliott, daughter 
of Robt. Elliott, of the same township. Mr. 
and Mrs. Salisbury have two children : 
Sadie M. and Robert E. Mr. Salisbury 
and wife are both members of the Monroe 
Presbyterian Church. He is the superin- 
tendent of the Sabbath-school. Mr. Salis- 
bury owns 205 acres of good, well-improved 
land. 

His father, John C. Salisbury died in 
1870, January 14. His mother is still 



living and resides with him, and retains 
her faculties of mind to a remarkable 
degree, being 74 years old. Mr. Salisbury 
is a good citizen. 



OTIS BARTOLL SAPPINGTON (de- 
ceased) was born in Baltimore, Md., 
January 1, 1832, and was reared in that 
city until he was sixteen years old. He 
attended the city schools until 11 years 
of age. At that time he commenced the 
business of life for himself. 

His mother died when he was only five 
and one-half years old. His father, who 
had been a large hat manufacturer, and 
was broken up by endorsing, died shortly 
after the death of his mother, leaving Otis 
an orphan without patrimony. 

At the age of sixteen he came to Indiana 
and stopped at Madison, where he was 
employed as clerk in the grocery and com- 
mission house of Weyer & McKee. He re- 
mained with this firm for many years. 

In 1863 he became a partner of Mr. 
Hargan in a wholesale grocery business, 
under the firm name of Hargan & Sap- 
pington, and was still in that firm at the 
time of his death in 1868. 

He was lost in the disaster to the steam- 
boat "United States of America." 

Mr. Sappington was married, in 1856, to 
Miss Sarah M. Crane, daughter of Rev. 
Simon H. Crane, a Presbyterian minister, 
and a native of Newark, N. J. 



27o 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



To them were born three children : 
Charles C, Mary M. and Otis B., all of 
whom are living. 

Charles C, the eldest, was born Decem- 
ber 22, 1860, in Madison, Ind., where he 
was reared and attended the city schools. 
In 1878 he took a position as check clerk 
in the J., M. & I. B. E. depot at Madison, 
and has been connected with this depot 
ever since, excepting from May 1 to 
September- 1, 1883, when he was teller in 
the First National Bank of Madison. 

On leaving the bank he was made freight 
and ticket agent for the J., M. & I. E. E. in 
his native town, and still holds the place. 

He is a member of the Masons and K. 
of P. order. 

He was elected as member of the City 
Council, from the fifth ward, on the Ee- 
publican ticket, in the spring of 1888, and 
is at present a member of that body. 

Mr. Sappington, while he is quite a 
young man, is making a remarkable 
record in pushing and placing himself 
among the successful and enterprising 
business men of Madison. 



JOHN W. SCOTT, native of Jefferson 
county, Ind., was born June 3, 1834; was 
reared in the county until his seventeenth 
year, when he emigrated to the town of 
Moorfield, Switzerland county, Indiana. 
At Moorfield he learned the blacksmith 
trade, and worked at it there until 1862. 



Then he purchased a farm on Pleasant 
Eidge, in Jefferson county, and removed to 
it, where he remained three years ; when he 
sold out and purchased a farm of 105 acres 
of land on Eyker's Eidge, in Jefferson 
county, which he still owns, and where he 
resides during the summer. 

Mr. Scott was educated in the common 
schools of the county, which, by the way, 
are the best class, and will give to a boy or 
girl the best practical education in the 
world. 

Mr. Scott is engaged in the wholesale 
and retail grocery business at the corner of 
Main and Jefferson streets, Madison, and 
resides in the city during the winter and 
spring months, in his city residence, No. 
601 N. Mulberry street. 

In 1865 he bought the farm mentioned, 
which is one of the finest in the county, 
and, removing to it, engaged in agricultural 
business in Madison, in which he continued 
until 1876, when he sold out the business, 
and that fall was elected treasurer of the 
county on the Democratic ticket, overcom- 
ing a Eepublican majority of over 600. 

During the two years of service in the 
treasurer's office, he made the largest col- 
lection of taxes ever made in the county. 
In the fall of 1878 he was defeated by a 
small majority for the same office. During 
the fall he engaged in the grocery business, 
which business he has been engaged in ever 
since. His place was known as the "Tem- 
ple" grocery, as he occupied the salesroom 
in the lower part of the Masonic Temple. 
He remained in the "Temple" until about 
one month ago, when he removed to his 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES, 



271 



present stand, comer of Main and Jefferson. 
He has built up a large trade, and has one 
of the best groceries in the city. 

In 1887 Mr. Scott took his two sons, 
William A. and Elmer E., into partnership 
with him in the grocery business ; the firm 
name is J. W. Scott & Sons. Mr. Scott is 
a Knight Templar Mason and a member 
of the M. E. Church. He has belonged to 
the church for twenty-five years, and is 
now a trustee and steward of his church. 

He has been a member of the Democratic 
Central Committee ever since 1878, and is 
a stockholder in Madison Herald News- 
paper Company. 

Mr. Scott was married in 1851, to Miss 
Sarah Protzman, of Switzerland county, 
daughter of John Protzman, who was also 
one of the largest farmers of that county. 
He has seven children living, three boys 
and four girls : Elias J., William A., Elmer 
E., Mary Ida, Annie, Nora M. and Bertha 
E. He is the son of John and Kebecca 
(Welch) Scott. John, his father, was bom 
in Jettburg, Scotland, and came to this 
country in 1818. He was a prominent farmer 
of this county, and died in 1878, at the age 
of 90 years. The mother was a native of 
Lexington, Ky. ; she died in 1868, at the age 
of 08 years. 



FRANCIS M. SCHOOLCRAFT, farmer, 
Monroe township, was bom in Lee county, 
Virginia, January 28, 1843. His father, 
Michael Schoolcraft, was a native of Penn- 



sylvania, of German descent. He removed 
to Virginia after the War of 1812, in which 
he was a soldier; there his son Abraham 
was born. 

Abraham married in Virginia, and lived 
in Lee county, where his sixteen children 
were borne by three wives. He then removed 
to Ouseley county, Ky., in 1856, and from 
there he came to Madison, Ind., in 1863, 
where he died, at the age of 47. 

He was a strictly loyal man to his coun- 
try, and had to leave Kentucky on account 
of his loyalty to the Union. 

The subject of this sketch was the 
eldest child, and at the death of his father, 
took charge of the young family of six who 
were left, and cared for them and found 
homes for them all. Mr. F. M. Schoolcraft 
was born and raised on a farm. 

In 1861, October 26, he enlisted in Co. 
G, Eighth Reg. Ky. Infantry, and served 
until January 6, 1863, when he was dis- 
charged for disability. He entered the 
United States Navy August 31, 1864, and 
served until discharged in June, 1865, at 
the close of the war. 

He came home and settled down to the 
quiet life of a fanner, taking to himself 
Mary Commisky as his wife, December 30, 
1874. She was the daughter of Joe Com- 
misky and Rebecca (Baxter) Commisky. 

The family of these two are five children, 
viz : Daniel B., Mary L., Cyrus E., Ben- 
jamin G. and Anna R. 

Mr. Schoolcraft owns a farm of 114 
acres of good land, with a new house and 
good barn, and lives comfortably and. happy 
with his family. 



272 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



GEORGE SCHWARTZ (deceased), the 
subject of this sketch, was born near Wil- 
dach, Bavaria, Germany, March 23, 1823. 
He was raised in a butcher's shop, and 
learned the milling business. In 1849 he 
came to America, and located for a short 
time in Ohio, where he was married to 
Anna M. Dosler, the daughter of Jacob 
Dosler, who was also a native of Bavaria. 
In the same year he removed to Jefferson 
county, Ind., and settled in Monroe town- 
ship, upon a farm, where he lived until 
August 2, 1887, where he died after a long 
illness. He was educated in Germany, his 
parents intending him for a Lutheran 
preacher. He was a man of mind and 
thought beyond the common run, and was 
always looked up to by the German popu- 
lation of Monroe township as a leader and 
adviser. He was noted for his mild, equa- 
ble temper and pleasant manners. He 
was just, and always considerate of the 
rights of others. In connection with his 
farm, he carried on a mill. Some years 
before his death he had turned that busi- 
ness over to his son, who built a mill on 
the Michigan road, three miles from the old 
one on Big creek. 

Mr. Schwartz was a prominent Mason, 
and for many years was a leader in the 
Grange movement in his county. He was 
a member of the Lutheran Church. He 
owned 108 acres of land, which he farmed 
in a thorough manner. His family con- 
sisted of himself and wife and eight chil- 
dren, viz: Margaret, who is married to 
Enos Baglan, lives in Madison; Mary, 
married to Henry Byer, livqs at Seymour ; 



Eva, married to John Smith, lives at Rock- 
ford, Ind. — now a widow ; George M. mar- 
ried Miss Lizzie Walmer, lives in Jefferson 
county, is a miller; John F., Anna M., 
Elizabeth and Michael — the last four are 
all single and live with Mrs. Schwartz on 
the homestead farm on Big creek. 



REV. JOHN B. H. SEEPE, Rector of 
St. Mary's Church, Madison, Ind., is a na- 
tive of Hanover, Germany. He was born 
in 1S30, and came to the United States in 
1836, with his parents, who located in Cin- 
cinnati. 

He remained there until 1842, and atten- 
ded the parochial school of the Holy Trin- 
ity Church. He attended college at La- 
trobe, Pa., studied theology at Vincennes, 
Ind., and was ordained Priest, in 1859, at 
Vincennes. 

He was first stationed at Richmond, Ind., 
from 1859 to 18GS, where he built St. An- 
drews Church and School. Subsequently 
he was Rector of St. James Church in Gib- 
son county, Ind., until 1875 ; afterward he 
was Rector of St. Gabriel's Church inCon- 
nersville, Ind., until 1881. 

Father Seepe was appointed Rector 
of St. Mary's Church, of Madison, Ind., 
April 22, 1881, and arrived at Madison on 
May 5, 1881. 

St. Mary's congregation was organized 
in 1850, and the church was built in 1S51. 
The present school-building — a commodi- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



273 



ous and fine building — was built in 1876, 
and contains four large school-rooms on 
the first floor, and a large ball on the sec- 
ond floor. The congregation numbers 250 
families ; and the school is attended by 
about 200 children, and is under the care 
of three Ursuline Sisters and one male 
teacher. 

The church was renovated in 1S87 and 
1888, to the amount of about $3,500, and 
is now one of the finest church buildings 
in Indiana. 



MICHAEL SHEETS, farmer, Monroe 
township. The subject of this sketch was 
born in Prussia, September 12, 1827. He 
is the son of John Sheets, a native of that 
country. Michael emigrated to this country 
in 1841, and settled with the family of his 
father in Pittsburgh, Pa". 

His father removed to Ripley county, 
Ind., and there bought 240 acres of land. 
He was the donor of land and money for 
the founding of the St. Magdelen Church 
and School in that county. He died in 
1S75. He was a farmer. 

His mother was Elizabeth Lisman, who 
was the daughter of a teacher in Prussia. 
Her only brother was forced into the army 
of Napoleon Bonaparte, and served under 
him ; while returning home he was starved 
to death — some of his comrades lived to re- 
turn home and tell the sad story. 

The father of the subject of this sketch 



raised a family of six children, four sons 
and two daughters. Michael was the 
youngest of the family, was raised on a 
farm and educated in the county schools of 
his time. 

In 1840 he enlisted in the war with 
Mexico, in Capt. Sullivan's company, in the 
Third Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. 
Was in all the battles of his regiment, along 
the Valley of the Rio Grande. At the close 
of the war he crossed the Gulf of Mexico to 
New Orleans, where his regiment was dis- 
banded. 

In August, 1849, he was married to Miss 
Mary Ann Miles, of this county. The re- 
sult of this union was six sons and four 
daughters : Enos J., Evan, Marion, John A., 
Chas. F., Michael J., MaryF., Nettie, Anna 
and Ida. 

The subject of this sketch was also in 
the late war for ten months and fifteen 
days, in the Twenty-second Regiment Indi- 
ana Volunteers. Entered September 22, 
1864, served to the end of the war; was 
with Gen. Thomas at Nashville, Tenn. 
After the close of the war be returned 
home and engaged in fanning, especially 
fruit culture. 

For twenty years past he has been quite 
successful in this line, and has now a very 
nice nursery. He also engaged in the fish 
culture a few years since, and now has a 
pool of fine carps on his farm. 

He has raised and educated bis large 
family, giving to them all of the benefits of 
schools and teaching which the country af- 
forded. He is a good farmer and citizen. 



274 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



JAMES H. SMITH, county surveyor, 
Shelby township, Jefferson county, Intl. 
Mr. Smith's parents were Wm. Smith and 
Anna M. (Tull) Smith. His father was a 
native of Maryland, and came to Kentucky 
in 1806 and was one of the pioneers' of 
that State. He removed to Indiana and 
settled in Jefferson county in 1823, on a 
farm in Shelby township, owned at present 
by the subject of this sketch. He served 
as a county commissioner of Jefferson 
county for a number of years. He died 
August 4, 1843. The mother of James H. 
Smith was the daughter of Handy and 
Eleanor Tull ; her father was a Revolution- 
ary soldier. Mr. James Smith was of 
Scotch-Irish descent. 

Mr. Smith, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Woodford county, Ky., Janu- 
ary 27, 1821, and was raised on a farm in 
this county. He was educated in a log 
school-house, having none of the modern 
apparatus used in education nowadays. 
At the age of 18 he began teaching school, 
and continued at that for ten years. All of 
this time was spent in his own county. 

He was married at the age of 23 to 
Catherine Overturf, who was of German de- 
scent ; her parents came from Kentucky. 
They are the parents of six children : Eliza- 
beth A., Wm. W., Sylvanus G., Mary E., 
John S. and James H. All of his sons are 
married but one. John S. is a physician 
practicing in Cass county, Ind., and was a 
graduate of the class of '82 in the Ohio 
Medical College. 

Mr. Smith was elected justice of the 
peace in 1852, and served eight years. 



After that, was county school examiner for 
four years. Then was captain of Home 
Guards during the war. During the war he 
was elected county surveyor and has served 
as such ever since, except for four years, and 
was re-elected in the fall of 1888 for two 
years more. 

Capt. Smith is a Mason, a member of 
the Blue Lodge. He is a Republican, and 
has been prominent in that party in this 
county ever since the party was organized. 
His father was a Whig, and was an ad- 
mirer and earnest supporter of Henry Clay. 
Capt. Smith's first vote was cast for Henry 
Clay. 



GRANVILLE T. SMITHA, farmer, 
Monroe township, was born September 1, 
1814, in Woodford county, Ky. He is the 
son of John Smitha, who was born in Penn 
county, Va., and removed to Kentucky in 
the beginning of this century ; and came 
from there to Indiana in 1819; settled in 
Jefferson county, at the head of Crooked 
creek, lived here some two years, then re- 
moved into the Woodfill neighborhood, and 
then moved to Ripley county ; after re- 
maining there some time came back to 
Jefferson county, near Bryantsburgh, where 
he bought land near the Robbins' farm, in 
Shelby township. The boyhood of the sub- 
ject of this sketch was passed principally 
on this farm. In 1832, October 18, Gran- 
ville T. Smitha was married to Eliza E. 
Robbins, daughter of Wm. Robbjns (whose 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



275 



sketch appears in this book). They had 
fourteen children as the result of their mar- 
riage : Wm, E., John, Willis H., Elizabeth 
E., Granville T., Mary A. B., Eliza Jane, 
Susan A., Melissa J., James B., Jeptha, 
Jerusia, Albert, and an infant. 

Mr. Smitha was born on a farm, and 
raised a farmer's boy and man, and is now 
an old farmer. He was educated in the 
schools of his youth (very different from 
those of this day). He is an earnest sup- 
porter and a prominent member of the 
Baptist Church. He saw Indians here, and 
tasted of all of the hardships of a pioneer 
life, and is now in declining health and 
years, enjoying the products of his labors, 
both physically and socially, of early life. 
He owns 106 acres of land, and lives com- 
fortably upon it. His oldest son, Wm. E., 
was raised on the farm, and at the second 
call for volunteers enlisted in Co. C, Eighty- 
second Eegiment Indiana Infantry Volun- 
teers, August 13, 1862, and was with Sher- 
man on his "March to the Sea," and in 
all of the engagements of his regiment. He 
was wounded twice. He lives at Edinburgh. 

Albert A., the youngest son of Granville 
T., was born December 13, 1857; was edu- 
cated in the schools of his township, and 
married March 14, 1878, to Mollie Ander- 
son. They have four children : Charles, 
William, John and Florence. He is a 
young and energetic farmer and a good 
citizen. 



CHEISTOPHEE SMAET, farmer, Mon- 
roe township, was born in Otsego county, 
New York, February IS, 1824. His par- 
ents were Abraham and Elizabeth (Abby) 
Smart, who were natives of England. 

His father was a farmer and emigrated 
to America in June, 1819. He remained in 
New York State until 1834, when he came 
to Indiana, and settled in Lancaster town- 
ship, Jefferson county, now Monroe town- 
ship, where he and his wife both died (see 
sketch of Mrs. Matilda Willoughby). 

Christopher Smart came to Jefferson 
county three years later, and is still living 
on the old homestead. He was educated 
in the schools of his day ; his principal 
instructors were a Welshman, by the name 
of David Jones, and an Irishman by the 
name of Craig (see his sketch). 

In 1850, on the 6th day of October, he 
was married to Miss Maria L. McGee, 
daughter of William and Margaret A. 
(Large) McGee. Her father came to Madi- 
son from Ohio in 1823, formerly from Vir- 
ginia, and was of Irish descent. 

The children of then- marriage are : Pirene, 
married to G. A. Valilie, living in Carroll 
county, Ky. ; William A., died aged 17 
years and 6 months ; Arabella, at home ; 
Christopher W., killed by the fall of a tree 
in Obion county, Tenn. ; Thomas I., at 
home ; Georgiana, a teacher of Jefferson 
county; James M., teacher of Jefferson 
county; and Riley L, 



276 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Mr. Christopher Smart taught school 
four terms, the first three in a log school- 
house with split logs for seats, and one 
term in a stone school-house; his salarj' 
was 75 cents and $1.00 per day. His own 
school-day advantages were meager. 

During the dark days of the late civil 
war he was township trustee for two years, 
and has held the postoffice at Big Creek 
ever since it has been established. 



LEONAKDD.SPANN. The Spann fam- 
ily was of English ancestry. A short time 
before the Revolutionary war, the head of 
the American branch migrated to Ameri- 
ca and settled in the Colony of South Car- 
olina. There were four of the sons and 
brothers of this family engaged as soldiers 
in that war, on the side of the Colonies. 
Three of them were soldiers in the ranks, 
and Jesse, the youngest, born in 1756, be- 
ing too young for regular enlistment, acted 
as a scout or helper in the service. He 
saw and conversed with General Washing- 
ton. 

After the war he married, and lived, until 
1801, in Sumter District, South Carolina; 
then moved to Garrard county, Kentucky, 
and in 1816 he came to Indiana, and set- 
tled in Lancaster township, Jefferson coun- 
ty, Indiana. 

Moses Spann, the son of Jesse, was born 
June 3, 1799, in Sumter District, South 
Carolina, and came with his father to Ken- 



tucky and Indiana. He was a carpenter 
by trade, and assisted in the log rollings of 
the early settlement of this county, one 
spriug being present at thirty-three of 
these interesting gatherings. In those days 
the whole county voted at the county-seat, 
Madison. About forty started from Lan- 
caster to go to town to vote ; a foot race to 
Madison was proposed, distance nine miles. 
Only four of the entire number made the 
race ; they were Moses Spann, Solomon 
Spann, Miller Hall and Lacy Eeynolds. 
Moses Spann died in 1886. 

Leonard D. Spann, who furnishes this 
sketch, was the son of Moses, and was born 
May 26, 1841, in Jefferson county, Ind. 
His mother's name was Nahala Smith, and 
she was the daughter of Asa Smith, who 
settled at an early date on the land where 
Dupont now stands. 

Mr. Leonard D. Spann was raised on a 
farm and educated in the common schools, 
and took a course of study at the High 
School at Dupont. Taught school for three 
years. At the breaking out of the Rebellion 
he enlisted in the State service, and served 
there two years and six months, being in 
the United States service some sixty-five 
days. 

He was married in 1865, to Miss Laura 
Driggs, daughter of Lloyd Driggs, a native 
of Baltimore, Md., and a resident of Mad- 
ison, Ind., since 1820. Mr. and Mrs. Spann 
have eight children : Minnie L. is married 
to Mr. E. Bennett, and lives in New Al- 
bany, Ind; John E. married Miss Alice 
Cary Patton, and lives in New Albany; 
Clara died when sixteen years of age ; the 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



277 



younger children, Frank D., Harley, Lloyd, 
Ethel E. and Bessie L. are all at home. 

Mr. Spann was for some years repre- 
senting the Farmers' Mutual Insurance 
Company, of Madison, Ind., and is now 
one of the directors. He is also a director 
of the Jefferson County Fair. 

He is a member of John A. Hendricks 
Post, No. 107, G. A. R. He owns eighty 
acres of well-improved land. 



Elder ROBERT STEVENSON, preacher 
and fanner, Shelby township, Jefferson 
^ounty, Ind., was bom February 5, 1815, 
in Ayrshire, Scotland, and came to the 
United States in 1828. He is the son of 
Robert Stevenson, who was also born in 
Scotland in 1787, and was a large woolen 
manufacturer in that country, at Kilmanark ; 
came to Indiana and bought a farm in Shelby 
township, Jefferson county, which is still 
owned by the Stevenson family, and spent 
his remaining life there. The ancestors of 
this family were of the town of Kickerton. 
The mother of Robert, the subject of this 
sketch, was Jennet Wallace, of the family 
of Sir Wm. Wallace, and her people were 
of the same county, at Manchlien, on the 
farm Bergour. In Scotland the women 
retain their maiden names after marriage. 
She died in 1883, at the age of 88 years 
and 6 months. 

Mr. Robert Stevenson, the subject of 
this sketch, was raised on the farm and 



educated in Scotland, not having any ad- 
vantages of schooling after he came to 
this country. They had only boards for 
slates and firecoals for pencils. In this 
way he became able to enter the ministry. 
He has been an active working man all 
his life ; has worked at carpentering, built 
his own house and made his own furniture, 
some of which is still in his possession. 
He is a minister of the Baptist Church, 
and has preached in many counties in this 
State, and has also preached in other 
States. He began his work in the ministry 
in 1843, and may be calle'd one of the 
pioneer preachers of this State. He was 
engaged in a State work for one year. 

He was married in 1837 to Miss Bar- 
bara Sterrett, who was born in Scotland, 
but came, when quite young, with her par- 
ents, to Jefferson county. Their children 
were James, Robert, William and Mary. 
His wife died April 17, 1846, and he was 
re-married May 4, 1847, to Sarah Rut- 
ledge, a native of Kentucky ; her parents 
were of Virginia. The result of this mar- 
riage was five children : John, George, David, 
Sarah and Charles. Three of his sons were 
in the army : James and Robert in the Sixth 
Indiana Infantry, and William in the 
Tenth Indiana Cavalry. His sons are all 
of them farmers, three of them live in Jef- 
ferson county, one in the Far West and one 
in Shelby county. Both of his daughters 
are married. Mary lives in Ripley county 
and Sarah in Galveston, Ind. 

Mr. Stevenson once labored in the Long 
Run Mission for three years, and preached 
342 days in one year. 



278 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



James was wounded at Stone River, and 
died from the effects of the wound ; his 
body was brought home for interment. 



ROBERT STEVENSON, Jr., farmer, 
Shelby township, Jefferson county, Ind. 
He is the second son of Robert Stevenson, 
Sr., of same township and county. He was 
born May 28; 1844, and was raised on a 
farm, and educated in the common schools. 
In August, 1861, he enlisted in Co. A, Sixth 
Regiment Indiana Vols., and served two 
years and six months, when he was dis- 
charged for disability received at Chatta- 
nooga, Jan. 6, 1864. He was in the bat- 
tles of Shiloh, Corinth, Chickamauga and 
others. He was taken prisoner at Law- 
renceburg, Ky. Upon returning home, as 
soon as he had sufficiently recovered from 
his disability, he resumed the life of a 
farmer, and has followed it ever since. In 
1S65 he was married to Mary E. Barber, 
who had formerly been married to John 
W. Hicks (a soldier), who was the daughter 
of James Barber. The result of this anion 
was four children : James W., Lucius L., 
Minnie E. (who died at twenty-three 
months of age) and Robert F. Mr. Steven- 
son is a prominent member of the Baptist 
Church. 

He has never sought an office of any 
kind. Having felt the great need of a good 
education, he is endeavoring to give his 



children better school advantages than he 
had himself. Owing to the hardships of his 
life in the army he is physically a wreck. 



MARCUS B. SULZER, a promising 
young lawyer of Jefferson county, is a na- 
tive of Madison, Ind. He was born April 
19, 1860, and is a son of Raphael R. and 
Rachel (Heimidingor) Sulzer, who were 
natives of Alsace, France. 

His father came to Madison in 1854, and 
engaged in the merchandise business, and 
retired from business about six years ago. 

Mr. Sulzer was raised in Madison, and 
was educated in the common schools, hav- 
ing no money to attend the higher schools. 
Began to read law in 1879 with Linck & 
Bellamy, and was admitted to practice in 
1881. He conducted many important 
trials before he was admitted to the bar. 
He made a good argument in the cases of 
the State vs. Cooper, and other murder 
cases ; since coped with Jason Brown and 
others. 

In the case of Peter Cooper for murder, 
he made the closing speech, and sent him 
up for life ; Brown making the closing 
speech for the defense. When only 19 
years of age he wrote articles pertaining 
to river and marine matters, which were 
extensively copied by leading papers of the 
country, which attracted the attention of 
Governor Williams, who appointed him, at 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



279 



19, delegate to the River Convention .at 
Quincy, 111., and while there he responded 
at a hanquet for Indiana. In 1880 Gov- 
ernor Gray removed him for heing a Re- 
publican, and Governor Porter re-appointed 
him in 1884, and he holds that position now. 

In 1S82 he was elected as city attorney, 
which place he held for two terms. Whilst 
in that office he revised the city ordinances 
and made a hook of them, which is received 
as the standard of the laws of the city. 
When his term expired the Democratic 
Council of the city gave him a unanimous 
vote of thanks for the manner in which he 
had performed his duties. 

In 1884 he was elected as prosecutor of 
the Fifth Circuit ; re-elected in 1886 by a 
majority of 769. His majority, the first 
time (in 1884) was 256, and is the only 
official who ever carried both counties in 
this circuit. 

He is a member of the I. 0. 0. P., has 
been president of local Lodge and member 
of Grand Lodge, being the youngest mem- 
ber ; he has been district judge of Grand 
Lodge Bnai Brith. He is one of the mem- 
bers of the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee, representing the Fourth Congres- 
sional District, and in 1889 was elected 
by the Annual Convention of Indiana Re- 
publican Clubs to represent Indiana at the 
National Convention of Republican Clubs, 
which convened at Baltimore, Md., Feb- 
ruary 28 and March 1. 



ROBERT H. SWAN, farmer, Hanover 
township, is a son of John and Mary R. 
(Thorn) Swan. His father was a native of 
Scotland, and came to the United States 
when a young man, and entered a farm in 
this county when James Monroe was Pres- 
ident. 

He died in 1860, at the age of 66 years, 
leaving a widow and eight children, of whom 
the subject of this sketch was the youngest. 
His mother was a native of Kentucky and 
died in 1868, at the age of 60 years. 

Robert H. Swan was born June 15, 1S49, 
upon the farm on which he now resides, 
in Hanover township, Jefferson county, 
Ind., and was reared there. He attended 
the common schools and the College at 
Hanover, and the Normal School at Leba- 
non, Ohio. 

He took charge of the farm when only 
17 years of age, and though almost with- 
out stock or farming tools, and with an in- 
valid mother and two sisters to support, 
by perseverance and energy, he succeeded 
in making a living and stocked his farm 
well and put it in a good state of cultiva- 
tion. His farm contains 1 60 acres of land 
well improved, and is situated four miles 
southwest of Hanover. 

In 1875 he was married to Miss Mattie 
L. Arnott, daughter of Rev. Moses Arnott, 
who was pastor of Carmel U. P. Church 
for twenty-eight years. She died in 1884, 
leaving three children, two of whom are 



280 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



now living, one boy and one girl — Mary 
Prudence and Eobert Arnott. In 1885 
Mr. Swan married again to Miss Ernrna 
0., daughter of Wm. McDonald, a farmer of 
this county. There are no children by this 
marriage. Mr. Swan is a member of the 
Carmel Church, and acted as one of the 
trustees of that church for sis years. 

In 1881 he engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness in Hanover, where he remained in 
business for two and one-half years, when 
he sold out and went to Kansas. 

He engaged in the confectionery business 
in Clay Centre, the county-seat of Clay 
county, Kan., and continued in business 
there for eight months, when he came back 
to his farm in this county, and has been 
there ever since. 



JESSE B. THOMAS is the son of Elias 
Thomas, who was born in Virginia, and re- 
moved to Kentucky, and from there to 
Indiana, before the subject of our sketch 
was born, and was one of the pioneer 
settlers of the State. 

Mr. Jesse B. Thomas was born in 1807 
near Madison. At that time the site of 
Madison was almost an unbroken forest; 
there was only one buckeye cabin there, 
built by James Hall. 

Mr. Thomas was raised during the trying 
times of the early settlers. The Indians 
were so troublesome at times that the set 



tiers were compelled to fly to the block- 
house for safety. 

The subject of this sketch was married, 
at the age of 21, to Jane Miller, a daughter 
of Bobert Miller, who was also a pioneer. 

Mr. Thomas and wife raised a family of 
six children : William H., Sarah E., James 
M., Daniel F., Henry C. and Bobert P. 
Mrs. Thomas died in 1852. Some ten years 
later he married Anna Staten, who was 
born in Kentucky; they had no children. 
James and Henry C, sons of Mr. Thomas, 
served through the war of the Bebellion, 
and were at the surrender of Bichmond. 

The father of Mr. Thomas was a noted 
hunter; he killed bear, deer and turkeys 
enough to keep the family in meat. He 
was one of the Bangers in Indian times. 

Daniel F. Thomas, fourth son of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was raised on a farm; 
was born in 1840, and educated in the 
common schools; owns 80 acres of land, 
and is taking care of his father in his old 
age and an orphan daughter of his brother 
Bobert. He cast his first vote for Abraham 
Lincoln, and still votes the Bepublican 
ticket. 



MABK TILTON was born in Wilming- 
ton, Delaware, August 22, 1822. His 
father was Dr. James Tilton, a native of 
the State of Delaware, and his mother was 
a Miss Fanny Gibson, a native of the 
eastern shore of Maryland. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



281 



His grand-uncle, Dr. James Tilton, after 
whom his father was named, was the first 
surgeon-general appointed in the United 
States army, and was the first member of 
Congress sent from the State of Delaware. 
He was also a member of the Order of Cin- 
cinnatus, the badge of which order was 
presented to him by the Marquis De La 
Lafayette. This badge is still retained in 
the family and is handed down regularly to 
the eldest living male member of the family. 
It had been in the possession of Mark 
Tilton for many years and up to the time 
of his death. 

In 1827 Mark Tilton's father left Dela- 
ware with bis family, and settled in Madi- 
son, Jefferson county, Indiana, where he 
remained many years practicing his pro- 
fession, and about three years before his 
death, which occurred in 1841, he re- 
moved to a farm in the northern portion of 
the county, upon a portion of which land 
he located the site of the present thriving 
village of Dupont. 

Mark Tilton, when about seventeen yens 
of age, obtained a situation in the Branch 
Bank, at Madison, of the State Bank of 
Indiana, where he remained twenty-one 
years, occupying most of the time the po- 
sition of teller. He was married to Miss 
Amanda Dunn, a daughter of Judge Dunn, 
of Hanover, Indiana, January 4, 1848, and 
has but one child living, Elizabeth R. Til- 
ton. While in the bank he was appointed 
by President Lincoln, United States Pen- 
sion Agent for the district in which he 
lived. It was not long after he was ap- 
pointed that the business of the agency so 



increased that he was obliged to resign his 
position in the Bank and devote bis whole 
attention to the duties of bis office. He 
retained the Pension Agency seventeen 
years and until, during the administration 
of President Hayes, the agency was re- 
moved to Indianapolis. 

Mr. Tilton had the reputation of being 
one of the most faithful and efficient officers 
in the pension service. His systematic 
habits and thorough acquaintance with the 
details of the office, the neatness and cor- 
rectness of his accounts with the Govern- 
ment, and his untiring pains to accommo- 
date and protect the pensioned soldier and 
the soldier's widow from the extortion of 
unworthy claim against agents, made him 
a valuable officer to the Government and 
very popular with the soldier element of 
his district. 

In 1877 he was appointed to a clerkship 
in the pension office in Washington, and 
moved his family to that city. He had not 
served long in the office before he was pro- 
moted to the position of assistant chief in 
one of the divisions in the Pension Bureau, 
and retained the position up to the time 
of his death, which occurred March 10, 
1887. 

Mark Tilton was a Knight Templar 
of the Masonic Order and a consistent 
member of the Presbyterian Church, He 
was a good citizen, a kind husband, and an 
indulgent father, a faithful and warm- 
hearted friend; he had a heart that always 
responded to the wants of the needy and 
alHicted. His success in life was achieved 
by his following strictly the old adage, 



282 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



that "What is worth doing at all is 
worth doing well." There are few men that 
have gone through life with a cleaner record 
than Mark Tilton. 



REV. JAMES W. TURNER, A. M., Pas- 
tor of Trinity M. E. Church, Madison, In- 
diana, was born August 11, 1857, in Dear- 
bora county, Ind., and brought up in 
Southern Indiana. His father, being a 
Methodist preacher, moved around a great 
deal. His father, Isaac Turner, and his 
mother, Alice Kenyon, were natives of Eng- 
land, and were married there and came to 
the United States in 1854, and located in 
Southern Indiana. His father was one of 
the pioneer preachers of Southern In- 
diana, and is still in the ministry, in act- 
ive work ; he is now located at Paris, Jen- 
nings county, Ind. Mr. James W. Turner 
was educated in the common schools of 
the county, and finished his education at 
Moore's Hill College, spending five years at 
that institution, and receiving the degree of 
A. M. in 1876. Two years before this 
time, he had preached his first sermon, 
at Delaware, Ripley county, Ind. In 1878 
he began regular work as a preacher in 
the Southeastern Indiana Conference of 
the M. E. Church, and has been engaged 
in that service ever since. At present he 
is Pastor of Trinity Church, Madison, in 
his second year. It is the finest church edi- 



fice in the city and has a membership of 
630. 

He was married, July 29, 1880, to Miss 
Lizzie Woodfill, daughter of William S. 
Woodfill, of Greensburg, Indiana, of one 
of the oldest families of Decatur county. 
They have four living children : Rollin 
A., Sarah A., William W. and Wesley J. 

Rev. Mr. Turner is a member the Free- 
masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias 
and the Order of the Golden Cross. He 
has delivered lectures on all of these orders 
in the principal cities of Southern Indiana. 
Mr. Turner's library is one of the finest in 
the State, containing the best encyclope- 
dias, choicest works on theology and his- 
tory, the leading books of science and 
fiction, and apparently all books that would 
pertain to the library of a student ; thus 
having the tools at his hand to fit him 
thoroughly for his work. 



PATRICK WADE, dealer in grain, 251 
and 253 W. Main street, Madison, Indiana, 
was bora March 6, 1842, in Ireland. When 
only eight years old he came to the United 
States with his mother, his father hav- 
ing come over to America less than two 
years before this time, and located in Madi- 
son, Ind. 

His parents were natives of Ireland, and 
were named Martin and Ann Wade. His 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



283 



father is still living. His mother died 
September 19, 1872. 

Mr. Wade was educated in the Catholic 
and public schools of Madison. After leav- 
ing school he went to work for his father. 
In 1864 he secured a position with F. 
Prenatt & Co., wholesale dealers in groce- 
ries and liquors ; he remained with them as 
clerk about three years, and in 1867 went 
to Louisville, Kentucky, and secured a 
position there as stock keeper in a whole- 
sale grocery kept by McKee, Cunningham 
& Co., remaining two years with them. 
Then he came back to Madison, Ind., and 
took a position with Jas. Hargan & Co. as 
a clerk in their wholesale grocery and 
liquor house, remaining with them over 
thirteen years. 

In March, 1882, he succeeded his father 
in the feed and grain business, which busi- 
ness he is still in. He also handles seeds 
in large quantities. And with his business 
experience, and by giving it his undivided 
attention, he has built up the largest trade 
in this line in the city. 

Mr. Wade has been a very successful 
business man ; commencing with a small 
capital, he now owns two storehouses and 
one of the finest residences in the city. 

He is a member of the Catholic Church 
and of the order of the Catholic Knights of 
America. 

He was married in 1864 to Miss Celia 
Langan, of Madison, and has six living 
children, four girls and two boys : Mary, 
Ella, Maggie, Annie, Martin and John. 

Mr. Wade is a Democrat ; he has never 
held any office, although he has been im- 



portuned to run for office at different times, 
but always refused because of his business 
needing his attention. 

Mr. Wade is a man of best character 
for attention to business, and in all points 
a good citizen. 

Patrick Wade, Martin Wade's father, 
was born October 2, 1818, in the County 
Galway, Parish of Kilkerrin, Ireland. He 
came to the United States March 7, 1 849, 
and located in Madison, and was engaged in 
driving a dray for Mr. Martin Mullen, in 
which employment he remained nine 
months. He then went to work for Mr. 
Dawson Blackmore, who was engaged in 
the commission and pork-packing busi- 
ness. He continued with him between six 
and seven years. 

In the latter part of 1856 he was en- 
gaged as wharf master at the depot wharf, 
where he remained for two years. . 

In October, 1858, he opened the feed and 
grain house now carried on by his son 
Patrick. He continued in this business 
until 1881, when he was succeeded by his 
son. Mr. Wade commenced business with 
a capital of only $1,000; now he owns 
three large store buildings on Main street, 
two of them occupied by his son Patrick 
and the other by himself. He has been 
very successful in business, having made 
his start in life by hard work, principally 
by hauling merchnndise for some of the 
largest business houses in the city. 

He is a member of the Catholic Church, 
and was married by the Rev. Patrick Hemy, 
a Catholic priest, to Miss Ann Burns, on 
the 31st day of January, 1841. They had 



284 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



two children — John and Patrick. John was 
born June 29, 1844, and is now in business 
in Memphis, Tenn. 

His parents were James and Ellinor 
(McLonghlin) Wade. His father was born 
in 1788, and died in 1858. His mother 
died about 1866. 



WILLIAM WALCH, of the Madison Ma- 
chine Company, was born February 4, 1845, 
in Cincinnati, Ohio ; was the son of William 
and Anastia (Cavinaugh) Walch, who were 
both natives of Ireland, and came to this 
country in 1843. His father was a cooper 
by trade, and died in Memphis, Tenn., 
where he was at work, at the age of 33 
years. His mother died in 1868, at the age 
of 48 years, at her home in Madison, 
Ind. Mr. Walch came to Madison, Ind., 
with his parents, when only six months 
old. He attended the Catholic schools of 
this city, and when only 14 years old com- 
menced to leam his trade, that of a ma- 
chinist, at the old Neal foundry of this 
city, where he continued for three years. 
At the breaking out of the war this foundry 
closed down. In 1862 Mr. Walch worked 
as journeyman in the Indiana foundry of 
this city, where he remained about fourteen 
months, when he took a position with Cobb, 
Stribling & Co., foundry men, also of Madi- 
son, and worked for them as journeyman 
for four years, when he was made foreman, 



and continued as foreman for them for four 
years more. In 1872, Mr. Walch formed 
a partnership with John McKenna and 
Julius Halfenberger, and bought the Indiana 
foundry, firm name being McKenna, 
Walch & Co. This firm continued for three 
years, when McKenna withdrew from the 
firm, and the firm name became Walch & 
Halfenberger. This firm continued for 
four years, when Mr. Halfenberger died. 
Mr. U. B. Stribling bought the interest of 
the heirs, and the firm name was changed 
to Stribling & Walch, and they continued 
for five years, when they sold out to the 
Madison Machine Co. (the present com- 
pany), in the year 1885. Mr. Walch is 
now superintendent of the Madison Ma- 
chine Co., and one of the principal stock- 
holders of the concern. Mr. Walch was 
married in 1869 to Miss Mary Cavinaugh, 
of Madison, Ind., who died in 1882, at the 
age of 37 years, leaving three children, of 
whom only two are now living — Maggie 
and Thomas. Mr. Walch is a member of 
the Catholic Church and of the order of 
the Catholic Knights of America. 



WILLIAM WATLINGTON, farmer, 
Madison township, was born in New Jersey, 
in 1810. His father, William Watlington, 
was a native of Bermuda, and came to 
America in 1804, and settled in Philadel- 
phia. In 1814 he came to Indiana, and 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



2St 



settled in Madison township, Jefferson 
county. He was a sailor in the United States 
service, and was taken by the English as an 
English subject, but was released by a 
friend swearing that he was American born. 
He died in 1815. 

Our subject's mother was Phoebe Loper, 
daughter of Evan Loper, of New Jersey ; 
she died in 1867. 

William Watlington was raised on a 
farm, and received a common-school edu- 
cation. 

In 1839, Nov. 26, he was married to 
Miss Mary Hewson, of Madison, Ind., and 
a daughter of Thomas and Mary Hewson. 
Her father was a teacher, merchant and 
preacher. 

The result of this marriage was seven 
children, all of whom attained maturity : 
William who enlisted in the Fifty-fifth In- 
diana Regiment during the late war — he was 
afterward discharged from that regiment, 
and re-enlisted in Third Indiana Cavalry ; 
Thomas H., Mary F., Emma, Charles E., 
Abraham L. and Elizabeth. 

From 1833 to 1839, Mr. Watlington 
was engaged in mercantile business in 
Madison. At this time he settled on the 
farm where he now lives, it being the same 
80-acre tract entered by his father. 

Mr. Watlington has succeeded in raising 
his large family, and giving to each one a 
good education, and is accumulating some 
little of this world's goods. He lives well 
and comfortably. His children are now 



scattered — one in Kansas, one in Illinois, 
and the rest in Jefferson county; two of 
them are married. 

Mr. Watlington has been prominent as 
an Odd Fellow, and was the first man 
initiated into that Order in Madison. He 
has been a member of P. of H. ; was also a 
school-teacher. He may properly be 
placed among the pioneers of Jefferson 
county. 



DILLARD C. WHITHAM, farmer, 
Shelby township, was born in Ripley 
county, in 1828. He is the son of Benja- 
min Whitham, and was raised a farmer. 
Was educated in the schools of his day. 

In 1S54, he was married to Elizabeth 
Buchanan, whose father was an early set- 
tler of this county (Jefferson). They have 
the following named children : Festus M . , 
Nancy J., Adrain, Orbia and Carrie. 

Mr .Whitham has 400 acres of good land 
in Jefferson county, where he lives com- 
fortably. The grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch came to Indiana in 1812, 
and settled near Buchanan's Station, in Jef- 
ferson county, while the Indians were still 
here, and raised a family of seven sons and 
five daughters. 

Mr. Whitham is an enterprising and 
successful farmer. 



286 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



GEORGE WHITHAM, farmer, Shelby 
township, is the son of Benjamin Whitham, 
who was born in Maryland, but spent his 
boyhood days in Kentucky, and came to 
Ripley county, Ind., about eighty years 
ago, where he died twenty-four years ago. 
The mother of the subject of this sketch 
was Nancy Birchfield, daughter of Robert 
Birchfield, who came from Kentucky in 
early times to Indiana. Her father was a 
Revolutionary soldier. 

Mr. George Whitham was born in 1832, 
in Ripley county, Ind., was raised on the 
farm, and was educated in t^be country 
schools of his day. 

At the age of 24 he married Emily J. 
Schnetger, daughter of Charles Schnetger, 
a native of Germany, and they are the par- 
ents of eight children: Benjamin B., 
Charles C, Anis, Mollie, William M., Jo- 
seph W., Robert Newton and John L. Mr. 
Whitham entered the service in 1864 as 
private in Co. I, Fortieth Reg. Ind. In- 
fantry, and served some eleven months. 
He was in the battles of Spring Hill, 
Franklin and Nashville and in some minor 
engagements. After the close of the war 
he returned home and settled down to the 
quiet life of a farmer. He owns some 600 
acres of well-improved land in Jefferson 
and Ripley counties, and is one of Jeffer- 
son's best and most energetic citizens. 

He was married a second time to Miss 
Sallie E. Conner, daughter of Louis Con- 
ner, who was a son of Louis Conner, a 
pioneer of this county. 



He has never been an office seeker, and 
is not a member of any order save the 
G. A. R. 



GEORGE L. T. WIDERIN, pastor of 
St. Patricks, North Madison, Indiana, is 
a native of Louisville, Ky. He was born 
June 20, 1847. His father, Christian 
Widerin, was a native of Austrian Tyrol ; 
and his mother, Mary Anna Meder, a na- 
tive of Bavaria. 

Father Widerin was about fourteen years 
old when his father, a tailor by trade, en- 
listed in Co. A, Twenty-third Indiana Vol. 
Infantry ; being disabled was discharged in 
or about 1863. 

George L. T. Widerin was a private of 
Co. A, One hundred and forty-fourth Indi- 
ana Vol. Infantry. He was educated at St. 
Meinrads, Spencer county, Ind., except- 
ing one year course at Indianapolis, In- 
diana. 

In May, 1877, he was ordained priest at 
St. Meinrads, Spencer county, Indiana, by 
the Rt. Rev. Bishop Maurice De St. Palais. 

His first charge was Haubstad, Gibson 
county, Priuceton and Abertsville, Indiana. 
In 1882 was removed to North Madison, 
Jefferson county, Indiana, attending to St. 
Anthony's Church, China P. 0., and to Im- 
maculate Conception, Vevay, Switzerland 
county, Indiana. 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



287 



The parish of North Madison, as hy late 
census taken, shows up seventy-six Catho- 
lic families, the parish of China P. 0. 
fifty, Vevay thirty-eight. 

The North Madison Church was estab- 
lished March 22, 1S53. The first pastor 
proper was Father Hypolite Du Pontavice, 
residence at Madison. 

At time of building of the church, the 
congregation numbered over one hundred 
and twenty-five families. The J., M. & 
I. car shops, and other important enter- 
prises, removed from North Madison, fami- 
lies also removed. The church is a brick 
building, forty by ninety feet ; parsonage 
a comfortable stone cottage; the school 
building and Sisters' residence is a frame 
building. Sisters of Providence, of St. 
Marys of the Woods, Vigo county, Indiana, 
are conducting the boys' and girls' school. 



BENJ. B. WILLIAMS, Lancaster town- 
ship, Jefferson county. The subject of this 
sketch was born and reared on a farm in 
Lancaster township. He learned the 
blacksmith trade from his father, and has 
been engaged in that business the principal 
part of his life — the greater part of the 
time in this county. 

He was born four miles southeast of 
Dupont, April 7, 1826, and attended the 
schools of that day. 

In 1847 he started to work at his trade 



in the town of Dupont, in a shop of his 
own, and continued at that business until 
185-1, when he went to Rising Sun and en- 
gaged in the retail drag business. He re- 
mained there until December, 1857, when, 
on account of his health, he was compelled 
to sell out the business. At that time he 
came back to Jefferson county, and pur- 
chased an interest in the mill at Lancaster, 
now known as the "Landon MiDs." The 
mill was owned by John B. Craft and him- 
self, the firm being Craft & Williams. 

This firm continued until 1SG0, when 
Mr. Craft sold out to Mr. T. G. Payne, and 
the firm name became Payne & Williams. 
This firm continued until December, 18G8, 
when Mr. Williams sold out his interest in 
the mill. In all, about eleven years spent 
in the milling business. 

In 1868 Mr. Williams came back to Du- 
pont and engaged in the blacksmith and 
agricultural implement business, and has 
been engaged in these two businesses ever 
since. In connection with his agricultural 
implement business he has dealt largely in 
the sale of fertilizing material ever since 
bone dust was first introduced into this 
county. 

He is a Democrat in politics, and was 
elected as Township Trustee of Lancaster 
township, in 1880 against a majority of 
seventy or eighty on the Republican side. 

Mr. Williams is a member of the Baptist 
Church at Dupont, and is a trustee for 
the church. 

He has been an Odd Fellow since 1874. 

He was married in November, 1852, to 
Miss Esther J. Craft, daughter of John B. 



288 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Craft, Sr. They have five living children, 
three boys and two girls : Mary E., mar- 
ried May 12, 1875, to Rev. John E. Mc- 
Coy, a Baptist preacher of Indianapolis ; 
James R., who is now practicing medicine 
in Indianapolis; John C, city editor on 
Democrat, Anderson, Ind. ; and Benj. A. 
and Myra are still in school. 

Mr. B. B. Williams is the son of Robert 
and Elizabeth (Blue) Williams, who were 
the parents of twelve children (Benjamin 
being the eldest), nine sons and three 
daughters. 

Robert Williams was born a few miles 
back of Louisville, in Nelson county, on 
Salt river, and went, while quite young, 
with his father, to Greene county, Ohio, and 
from there came to Indiana in 1814, and 
settled four miles southeast of where Du- 
pont now is, where he died February 24, 
1876, at the age of 79 years. 

Elizabeth Williams died at the old home- 
stead, Jefferson county, Ind., May 2G, 1872, 
aged G5 years. 



REMEMBRANCE J. WILLIAMS was 
a son of Roberts Williams ; the latter a na- 
tive of Kentucky, and who left Kentucky, 
when two years old, with his father, Re- 
membrance Williams, and migrated to 
Greene county, Ohio. From Ohio he re- 



moved to Jefferson county, Lancaster town- 
ship, in 1814, where he died at an advanced 
age. 

In 1804 or 1S05, his elder brother, Re- 
membrance, passed through Jefferson 
county in the employ of the United Slates 
surveyors. Remembrance, the father of 
Robert, was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war, and was with Washington during the 
distressing winter at Valley Forge. 

Sarah Moncrief, a native Kentuckian, 
was the mother of Remembrance J. Will- 
iams. 

'Squire Williams was raised on a farm, and 
educated, in a manner, in the log school- 
house when puncheon floors were famous. 
One of the teachers was in the habit of "get- 
ting in liquor" occasionally ; one day he 
got too much, and, to punish him, the "big 
boys" and the "giddy girls" buried him and 
dismissed his school. 

When quite young, 'Squire Williams 
learned the blacksmith's trade in his father's 
shop, and has wrought at it until of late. 

In 1844 he married Miss Emily Fenton, 
daughter of Bartholomew Fenton, who was 
born in Kentucky. 

The children from this marriage are as 
follows: Mary E., who married Willis 
Singer, and lives in Ripley county, Ind. ; 
Robert A., who married Miss Baxter, and 
lives in Monroe township ; Sarah E. mar- 
ried Wm. A. Shuck, and lives in Jennings 
county, Ind. ; Joana B., who married Rev. 
John Threlkeld, and lives in Bartholomew 
county, Ind.; Willard R., who lives at 
Haney's Corner; John B., M. D., practic- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



289 



iiig at Honey Creek, and George H., who is 
also practicing physician. 

'Squire Williams enlisted in the Sixth 
Indiana Volunteers in the year 1861, and 
was discharged for disability in 1863. 

He has been Justice of the Peace in his 
township for some ten years. He owns 
1 45 acres of land in this township. 



MRS .MATILDA WILLOUGHBY, farm- 
er and trader, Monroe township, Jeffer- 
son county. Mrs. Willoughby was bom in 
the State of New York, July 31, 1825. 
Her father was Abraham Smart, a native 
of England, and came to the United States 
in 1820. His family were James, born 
March 12, 1819; Christopher, 1824; Ma- 
tilda, July 31, 1825; Isaac, November 22, 
1S2S; Elizabeth, December 10, 1830, and 
Alford B., August 5, 1831. 

The subject of our sketch was married 
June 14, 1859, to David McKay, a native 
of Virginia, who died October 21, 1870. 
She lived a widow for three years, when 
she was married to Thomas Willoughby, 
who was born in Virginia, and came at an 
early date to this county. Mrs. Willough- 
by owns 110 acres of land, some valuable 
stocks, and other property of various 
kinds. 



She never raised any children of her 
own, but has raised three of other parents. 
She has been a church member for the 
greater part of her life, and is now an 
earnest supporter of the Adventist doctrine 
or faith. 



JAMES C. WOODS, farmer, Monroe 
township, was born in 1828, in Dearborn 
county, Ind. ; was raised on a farm, and 
educated in the common schools. 

His father, Joseph Woods, was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1793; he came to Indiana 
in 1816, and settled in Dearborn county. 
Here he remained until 1S37, when he re- 
moved to Jefferson county, into what is now 
Monroe township, where he died in 
1853. 

He was one of the first Justices of 
the Peace in Dearborn county, and was 
elected to that office in Jefferson county, 
where he held the office for nine or ten 
years, and was serving at the time of his 
death. 

The mother of Mr. James C. Woods was 
Miss Isabel Bushfield, daughter of Samuel 
Bushfield, all natives of Ireland. The 
family of Joseph Woods was composed of 
nine children, seven of whom lived to ma- 
turity. 



290 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



Mr. James C. Woods, at the age of 22, 
began to learn the trade of coach black- 
smithing. He served part of his time in 
Madison, Ind., and finished at Frankfort, 
Ky. He worked at this trade for five 
years. 

He married Susan A. Read, in December, 
1852. She was the daughter of Andrew 
Bead, a native of Virginia, who removed to 
Kentucky after his daughter was born. He 
was of Scotch- Irish extraction. His father, 
Frank Read, was a Revolutionary soldier, 
and he, himself, was a soldier in the War 
of 1812-15. 

Her mother's family, of French extrac- 
tion, named Leftwich, were early settlers 
of Virginia. 

The result of this marriage was six chil- 
dren, viz : Belle, Kate, Elizabeth, Anna, 
Howard and Ida. Kate is married to 
George Craig, and lives in Johnson county, 
Ind. ; the others are at home, except Belle, 
who is at Indianapolis, Ind. Mr. Woods 
owns 200 acres of good land, well im- 
proved. Is a member of the I. 0. 0. F. 
and the Grange. Once held the office 
of township treasurer, and is a good 
citizen. 



ROBEBT H. WOOD, one of the most en- 
terprising and progressive farmers of Jef- 



ferson county, was born in Jefferson county, 
in 1852, March 25, and is a son of Ezra and 
Cassandra T. (Mayfield) Wood. Mr. Ezra 
Wood is a native of New York State. His 
father, Thurston Wood, came to Jefferson 
county in 1837, and bought a quarter sec- 
tion of land in Madison township, border- 
ing on the line of Monroe township. Cas- 
sandra Mayfield was a native of Trimble 
county, Ky., and came to Indiana with her 
father in 1834. Ezra was born in 1827. 
Served in the Home Guards during the 
war of 1861-65. Was elected to different 
township offices and as justice of the 
peace. • • 

The subject of this sketch is the second 
child of six sons and three daughters. Was 
educated in the common schools of the 
county. He was for two years gardener at 
the State House of Befuge, in Hendricks 
county, this State. He owns sixty acres of 
land and farms it in vegetables, fruit and 
flowers, and is in good substantial condition 
in business. June 12, 1879, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Clara T. Seidel, a native 
of Carrolton, Ky., whose parents are 
Germans. They have four children : 
Jessie A., Alfred C, Nelda A. and B. 
Emmet. 

Mr. Wood is a director in Patrons Mu- 
tual Insurance Company; also director of 
Jefferson County Agricultural Society. 

Mr. Wood is the largest grower of vege- 
tables under glass in the county. He was 
the first man in the county to put in 
a system of pipes for supplying water 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



291 



for stables, dwellings, greenhouses, etc. 
In 1887 he built three greenhouses, 20x50 
feet. 

He is more extensively engaged in mar- 



ket-gardening than any man in the county, 
and beside, in connection with general 
farming, he is interested in breeding thor- 
oughbred Jersey cattle and fancy poultry. 



292 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



DE. C. H. WEIGHT was born in Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, December 22, 1839. His par- 
ents were John H. and Anna M. Wright. 

His father was born and raised in Mary- 
land, his mother in Virginia. They were 
of English and German origin. 

In early life Dr. Wright was thrown 
upon his own resources and had to make 
his own way and to educate himself; 
with pluck and energy, he succeeded in 
getting almost through his collegiate course 
at the Hartsville University, and one course 
of lectures in medical college. When the 
war broke out he volunteered as a private 
soldier on the 16th of April, 1861, for 
three months. At the expiration of this term 
he re-enlisted with Col. Lew Wallace in the 
Eleventh Indiana Zouave Eegiment, for 
three years ; in which regiment he served as 
a private soldier until after the battle of Shi- 
loh, being in the battles of Fort Donnelson 
and Pittsburgh Landing, and after the battle 
was detailed to take charge of a number of 
sick and wounded on board a floating hos- 
pital (or hospital barge) "Eipley." When 
this boat was retired, was made hospital 
steward and assigned to duty on board the 
hospital boat "Stephen Decatur," and re- 
mained in this capacity until late in the 
summer of 1862, when, by reason of the 
injuries previously received while on the 
road to Corinth, was so incapacitated for 
any kind of duty, was, by special order, sent 
to St. Louis, Mo., and discharged, totally 
disabled. 

During the following winter recuperated, 



and finished a second course of lectures in 
the St. Louis Medical College, graduating 
in the spring of 1863. Commenced the 
practice of medicine in that city, but get- 
ting stronger determined to go to the front 
again; this time passing an examination 
by board of examining surgeons, became 
an acting assistant surgeon, U. S. A., in 
which capacity he served for several 
months, when the exposure and hardships 
were too much for him, and he was again 
compelled to return North, or die from in- • 
juries and hemorrhage from the lungs. 
During the following winter he improved 
very much in health, and again, in the 
spring of 1864, assisted in organizing the 
134th Indiana Eegiment, and went South 
with it as regimental quartermaster, in 
which regiment he served his time out, and 
was mustered out with the regiment at the 
expiration of its term. 

During the fall of 1865 went North, and 
while there, having an opportunity, took a 
third course of lectures at Ann Arbor, 
Mich., coming back to Indiana in April, 
1866, much improved in health. In June 
he married Miss Jennie Davis, a former 
schoolmate, and immediately commenced 
the practice of his profession in Jackson 
county, Indiana. In May the following 
year his wife died. In 1869 he again broke 
down in health ; this time consulted the 
eminent surgeon, Dr. Geo. C. Blackburn, of 
Cincinnati, and while under his care and 
advice became much stronger, and attended 
another, the fourth course of lectures, at the 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



297 



Ohio Medical College, graduating from that 
college March 1, 1S70. 

He was again married, to Miss Jennie 
Yawter, of Jackson county, and remained 
there until April, 1873, when he moved to a 
healthier location at North Madison, where 
he has resided and practiced his profession 
to the present date. 

During his professional life he has been 
for many years a member of the National 
Medical Association, having represented 
both County and State Societies in that 
body ; also for twenty years a member of 
the State Medical Society; is at present 
Assistant Secretary of the Indiana State 
Medical Society and Secretary of the Jef- 
ferson County Medical Society. 

He has been nineteen years a member of 
the I. 0. 0. F., having represented his 
lodge in the Grand Lodge of Indiana ; is at 
present a member of Madison Lodge, No. 
72, in Madison. He has, for some years, 
been a member of Alois Bachman Post, 
G. A. E., and one terrn surgeon of the Post ; 
was appointed Examining Surgeon on the 
Board, of Pension Examiners, at Madison 
under President Arthur, and was relieved 
from duty, for being an offensive par- 
tisan, when President Cleveland came into 
office. 

He has at present a pleasant home, a 
fine practice, and a very productive as well 
as beautiful farm near his home. 

He is one of the most successful practi- 
tioners in the county, and has attained to 
more than an ordinary degree of success in 



his profession, and is regarded as one of 
the most progressive members of the medi- 
cal fraternity. 



MILTON S. VAWTER was born Febru- 
ary 17, 1829, in Madison township, Jeffer- 
son county, Ind. He is the son of James 
and Sarah B. (Watts) Yawter, who were 
natives of East Tennessee and Boone county, 
Ky. (see sketch of James Vawter, among 
the early settlers of the county). 

Milton S. Vawter was born in the house 
in which he now lives, on a farm, and was 
reared upon it. 

At the age of 20 he became a cle] 
his brother, John W. Vawter, at North 
Madison, in the spring of 1.S49. He after- 
ward engaged as a clerk for B. M. J. Cox, 
in the business of merchandise, at Taylors- 
ville, Bartholemew comity, Ind., for one 
year. 

In June, 1850, he commenced business 
for himself, and continued until the fall of 
same year, when he sold out to Mr. George 
Brown, and returned to Jefferson county, to 
assist his brother, J. W. Vawter, in building 
plank roads. 

In 1851, went to Elizabethtown, Barthol- 
omew county, Ind., and commenced mer- 
chandizing, and continued until 1855. 



298 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



He then went to Baton Kouge, La., to 
assist his brother in building plank roads. 
In 1S56 he went to Amity, Johnson 
count}-, Ind., with a new stock of 
merchandise, and continued there until 
1S6S. From there he went to Martinsville, 
Morgan county, Ind., and ran a flouring mill 
for one year. 

Early in 1S60 he opened a dry-goods 
store in Madison, Ind., and continued 
until fall of 1861, when he sold out his 
stock. 

In 1S63 he was engaged on the river, on 
which he filled several places, from watch- 
man to captain — was on Clara Dunning, 
David White and Alice V., part of the time 
in the United States Government service, 
on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. 
Continued river life until spring of 1S67. 
iiber, 1867, he opened up in busi- 
i in in North Madison, and in 1869 
i out, and again went to Madison, where 
goods for a short time; then 
constructed a storeroom at his home 
on the farm, where he continued to do 
business. 

Mr. Vawter was married in Adams coun- 
ty, Ohio, December, 1S65, to Miss Aurena 
L. Yawter, a native of Jefferson county, 
Indiana, by whom he had three children : 
Frank C, Lennie F. and Bert W. ; the lat- 
ter died in infancy. September 4, 1872. 
His wife died October 31, 1S72. 

He was married a second time, Novem- 
ber 16, 1876, to Susan G. Sebree, a na- 
tive of Gallatin county, Kentucky. 



Mr. Vawter owns 275 acres of land in 
Jefferson county. He received a very lim- 
ited education, but is a thorough business 
man. 

Judge John Watts, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born in Vir- 
ginia in 1767, and came to Dearborn 
county, Indiana, about 1817 ; was a 
Baptist preacher and was a judge of the 
county courts in very early times in this 
State. 

The name of Vawter is derived from the 
French. 



CAPT. ARGUS D. VANOSDOL is a na- 
tive of Jefferson county, Ind. He was 
born September 18, 1S39. He is a son of 
Thomas J. Vanosdol and Charlotte (East- 
wood) Vanosdol. 

Thomas J. Vanosdol was born in Mercer 
county, Ky., in 1S13, and came to Vevay, 
Switzerland county, Ind., in the year ISIS. 
In 1833 he located in Madison. Was a 
cutter and dealer in stone, and a builder. 
He spent *he last thirty years of his life on 
a farm, in Switzerland county, Ind. He 
died April 11, 1886. Charlotte Eastwood 
Vanosdol was born in Ohio. 

The great-grandfather (Stewart) of Capt. 
Vanosdol was a soldier in the Revolution- 
ary war, and was a native of Massachu- 



SOUVENIR SKETCHES. 



2 99 



setts Colony, but entered the army from 
the State of New York. 

Capt. Vanosdol's paternal grandfather, 
Jacob Vanosdol, was one of the Kentucky 
Rangers during the war of 1811-12; was 
at the battle of Tippecanoe with Gen. W. 
H. Harrison, and was engaged in other 
battles in that war. 

His maternal grandfather, Eastwood, 
was a German by birth, and was also a 
soldier in the War of 1812. 

July 4, 1861, Captain A. D. Vanosdol 
enlisted in Co. A, Third Regiment Indiana 
Cavalry, as a private soldier. He was 
made Sergeant-Major, and afterward pro- 
moted to the captaincy of Co. I, same regi- 
ment, in February, 1862. He continued in 
this position until the summer of 1863, 
when he was discharged on account of in- 
juries received in the battles of 1862 and 
at Stone River. 

After his health was restored, early in 
1S65, he enlisted Us a private in Co. E, 
156th Regiment Indiana Vols., and was im- 
mediately promoted to the first lieutenantcy 
of his company, and served the most of the 
time on detached duty, until his discharge 
in August, 1865. 

Capt. Vanosdol was educated in the com- 
mon schools and at the State University ; 
and from the law department of that in- 
stitution he graduated, with honor, in 1870. 

In May, 1871, he located at Madison in 
the practice of law. He is a hard student, 
possesses a fine memory, and stands high 
at the bar as a lawyer. In 1886, while in 



California attending the National Encamp- 
ment of the G. A. R., he was tendered the 
nomination for Congress in his district by 
his party, but declined. 

Capt. Vanosdol was Inspector-General of 
G. A. R. in 1886, upon the staff of Geu. S. 
Burdette, Commander-in-Chief of G. A. R., 
and is at present Department Commander 
of Department of Indiana G. A. R. He is 
also colonel of the Fourth Regiment of In- 
diana Brigade Uniform Rank of K. of P. 
In politics he is a Republican. 

His wife was a Miss Mary C. Henry, to 
whom he was married in August, 1862. 



JOHN A. ZUCK, City Clerk, Malison, 
Indiana, is a native of Jefferson ci 
and was born in the city of Madison May 
19, 1851. He is the son of Andrew and 
Elizabeth (Roberts) Zuck, who were natives 
of Pennsylvania and Kentucky respectively. 

His father came to Madison in 1S32, and 
was for many years a prominent business 
man of the city, engaged in the grocery 
business ; he served the City Council in 
1851. 

Mr. John A. Zuck was raised in Madi- 
son, was educated in the public schools; 
commonly he was out of school at work 
in his father's store. 






300 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 









At the age of thirteen he went into the 
army, in Co. E, One hundred and thirty, 
seventh Regiment Indiana Vol. Infantry, 
as a drummer boy ; was out about six 
months, when he came home and resumed 
his studies. He graduated from National 
Business College in 1869. Afterward he 
became a clerk in the dry goods business ; 
was clerk on a steamboat in the Kentucky 
river trade, in the employ of the Cincinnati 
and Louisville Mail Line Company, for 
three and one-half years. 

Mr. Zuck was elected City Clerk in May, 



1885, and re-elected in 1SS7. He is a 
Democrat. 

In February, ,1 876, he was married to 
Miss LeliaL. Flora,[of Madison. Mr. Zuck 
is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., Order of 
Red Men, K of P. Is Grand Senior Saga- 
more of Indiana in the Order of Red Men, 
which is the second office in rank in that 
Order ; and is in line of promotion to the 
office of Great Sachem in that order. Is 
a P. G. in the I. 0. 0. F. and P. C. in the 
K. of P. 



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